GOLF  FOR  WOMEN 


MRS.  CLARENCE  * H?  Y^NDERBECK 
ionj"  1916. 


GOLF  FOR  WOMEN 


BY 


A  WOMAN  GOLFER 


NEW  YORK 
MOFFAT,    YARD  &  COMPANY 

1916 


COPYRIGHT,  1916,  BT 
MOFFAT,  YARD  &  COMPANY 


TO 

»  *  » 

R.  H.  H. 


393605 


PREFACE 

IT  might  seem  at  first  thought  that,  consid- 
ering the  great  number  of  books  on  golf  that 
have  already  been  written  by  the  most  famous 
masculine  players  and  students  of  the  game, 
a  book  especially  for  women  is  unnecessary, 
and  cannot  hope  to  compare  in  usefulness 
with  the  dicta  of  the  great  ones  who  have  so 
amply  set  forth  the  facts  concerning  their 
theories  and  their  practices.  There  is  an- 
other aspect  of  the  subject,  however,  that  has 
for  some  time  appealed  strongly  both  to  my 
reason  and  to  my  imagination  and  has  led  me 
finally  to  write  this  book. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  all  beneficent 
development  comes  from  within.  It  is  the 
will  to  learn  and  the  will  to  do  that  are  the 
real  basis  of  advancement.  The  words  of  a 
Solomon  falling  on  ears  that  are  accustomed 
to  another  language  have  no  enlightening 
effect,  but  the  simplest  explanation  made  in 
a  familiar  tongue  will  accomplish  what  reams 
of  incomprehensible  wisdom  could  not. 

Like  most  analogies  this  presents  the  case 

vii 


viii  Preface 

in  an  extreme  form,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true 
that  men  and  women  do  not  speak  entirely 
the  same  language,  and  that  their  minds  and 
methods  run  along  in  quite  different  channels. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  what  men  write  for 
women,  in  the  realm  of  sports,  is  so  often  un- 
satisfactory to  a  woman. 

To-day  women  are  thinking  for  themselves, 
acting  for  themselves  and  writing  for  them- 
selves. They  have  entrusted  their  problems 
to  the  minds  of  men  for  generations,  but  they 
have  now  awakened  to  the  fact  that  what  is  to 
be  done  well  for  oneself  must  be  done  by 
oneself. 

Thus  it  follows  that  now,  more  than  ever, 
women  must  help  one  another  and,  by  helping 
one  another,  help  themselves.  They  are 
grappling  problem  after  problem  and,  as  time 
goes  on  and  their  experience  and  strength 
grows  greater,  they  are  approaching  each  one 
with  a  clearer  eye,  a  saner  mind  and  a  more 
firmly  established  sense  of  proportion.  One 
of  the  most  significant  signs  of  women's  ad- 
vancement is  the  fact  that  they  now  realize 
their  limitations  as  well  as  their  capabilities. 
The  mistakes  of  some  of  the  enthusiasts  dur- 
ing the  earlier  period  of  the  feminist  move- 
ment are  now  things  of  the  past,  and  must  be 


Preface  ix 

regarded  merely  as  stepping  stones  to  the 
firm  rock  of  mental  poise  and  practical  ef- 
ficiency. 

The  foregoing  may  seem  to  be  a  digression 
from  the  subject  immediately  at  hand  but  it 
serves  as  the  real  explanation  of  why  I  am 
writing  this  book.  I  feel  that,  as  a  woman, 
I  understand  a  woman's  needs  better  than  can 
any  man  and  can,  therefore,  I  hope,  be  of 
real  assistance  to  the  ever  growing  number  of 
women  golfers  in  this  country. 

That  the  game  of  golf  is  taking  a  more  and 
more  prominent  place  in  the  list  of  women's 
sports  each  year  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
Women  are  both  playing  and  studying  the 
game  more  seriously  than  ever  before.  The 
fact  that  the  English  women  players  on  the 
whole  excel  the  players  of  the  United  States 
should  be  an  encouragement  to  the  women  on 
this  side  of  the  water,  because  the  English 
women  have  been  at  the  game  longer  than  we 
have  and,  therefore,  show  us  what  may  be  ac- 
complished. Before  long,  perhaps,  we  may 
be  able  to  overtake  their  lead ;  in  fact,  I  think 
there  is  very  little  doubt  that  this  will  be  the 
case. 

There  is  one  advantage  that  English 
players  (and  with  them  I  mean  to  include 


x  Preface 

both  the  Irish  and  the  Scotch)  have  over 
Americans  and  that  is  the  climate  of  their 
country.  I  have  never  heard  any  one  make  a 
point  of  this  fact,  but  I  think  there  can  be  no 
question  but  that  the  atmospheric  conditions 
in  the  British  Isles  are  more  conducive  to 
good  play  than  they  are  in  this  country.  Our 
clear,  brilliant  sunshine,  our  intense  heat  in 
the  summer  and  nipping  cold  in  the  autumn 
do  not  offer  such  favorable  conditions  for 
golf  as  the  more  dull  and  equable  climate 
across  the  water.  Every  one  knows  that  it  is 
easier  to  play  on  a  gray  and  misty  day  than 
in  dazzling  sunlight,  but  our  "gray  and  misty" 
days  are  rare,  while  they  are  so  common  as  to 
be  almost  the  rule  in  the  islands  embraced  by 
the  Gulf  Stream.  While  this  peculiarity  of 
climate  is  probably  partly  responsible  for  the 
excellence  of  the  English  players,  both  men 
and  women,  it  is  not  of  such  importance  as  to 
be  an  insuperable  advantage  and  should  not 
cause  us  any  discouragement. 

I  predict  that  it  will  not  be  many  years  be- 
fore matches  between  nlen  and  women  on  an 
even  footing  so  far  as  sex  is  concerned  will 
be  quite  common.  It  will  naturally  follow 
that  a  system  of  handicaps  will  be  arranged 
for  men  and  women  that  will  be  based  on  the 


Preface  xi 

player's  score  regardless  of  sex.  When  this 
comes  to  pass  it  will  be  seen  that  many  women 
will  give  their  husbands  a  few  strokes,  and 
many  brothers  will  have  to  take  a  stroke  or 
two  from  their  sisters.  This  state  of  affairs 
will  add  interest  to  the  game,  because  any 
sport  that  men  and  women  enjoy  together 
increases  the  pleasure  of  all  concerned. 
There  will  probably  always  be  a  few  men  who 
regard  golf  as  their  especial  prerogative,  and 
who  will  always  resent  the  presence  of  women 
on  the  links  no  matter  what  their  qualifica- 
tions as  golfers  may  be.  Fortunately,  how- 
ever, their  number  is  growing  less. 

I  must  say  here  that  I  believe  that  a 
woman's  greatest  handicap  in  the  game  of 
golf,  a  handicap  far  more  important  than  the 
lack  of  physical  strength  that  is  so  often 
urged  against  her,  is  her  lack  of  interest  in 
mechanical  principles.  Golf  is,  after  all,  an 
extremely  scientific  game  in  which  satisfac- 
tory results  can  be  obtained  only  by  knowl- 
edge of  the  actuating  causes  and  consequent 
results  of  each  stroke.  Women,  on  the 
whole,  are  much  more  interested  in  effect  than 
in  cause  and,  therefore,  will  play  on,  blindly 
striving  to  accomplish  certain  things,  without 
taking  the  time  or  thought  necessary  to 


xii  Preface 

analyze  the  methods  by  which  such  results 
must  be  obtained. 

It  is  to  beg  women  to  understand  more 
clearly  the  purpose  underlying  the  construc- 
tion of  each  club,  the  effect  of  each  club  upon 
the  flight  of  the  ball,  and  the  reason  for  each 
one  of  the  series  of  movements  by  which  she 
herself  accomplishes  a  shot,  that  I  am  writing 
this  book.  If  I  am  able  to  clear  away  any 
problem  that  has  troubled  a  player's  mind 
and  to  show  her  that  what  she  had  thought 
difficult  to  understand  is,  after  all  false 
notions  have  been  relegated  to  the  rubbish 
heap,  quite  simple  and  comprehensible,  I 
shall  feel  that  I  have  not  written  in  vain:  if, 
further  than  this,  my  suggestions  and  my 
reasoning  should  awaken  any  woman's  intel- 
ligent interest  so  that  she  decides  that  she 
will  in  future  think  out  her  problems  for 
herself,  I  shall  feel  that  this  book  has  accom- 
plished its  real  purpose. 


CONTENTS 

PREFACE .  vii 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I     BEGINNING  THE  GAME 1 

II     PUTTING 22 

III  APPROACH  SHOTS 65 

IV  THE  MID-IRON  AND  CLEEK 84 

V     IN  AND  OUT  OF  TROUBLE 109 

VI     THE  WOODEN  CLUBS 121 

VII     SPECIAL  SHOTS 172 

VIII     IRREGULAR  STANCES 197 

IX     WHAT  PRODUCES  BAD  FORM     ....  207 

X     SOME  WOMEN  GOLFERS  AND  THEIR  PLAY  .  230 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Mrs.  Clarence  H.  Vanderbeck  Frontispiece 

FACING 
FACE 

Mrs.  Ronald  H.  Barlow .      .      10 

Miss  Elaine  Rosenthal 20 

Mrs.  W.  J.  Faith .      .     30 

Mrs.  Blake SO 

Mrs.  J.  E.  Davies 50 

Mrs.  Ronald  H.  Barlow 50 

Miss  Marion  Rollins 60 

Miss  Cecil  Leith 70 

Miss  Lilian  Hyde  Feitner   .      .      .      .      .      .      .80 

Miss  K.  Harley 80 

Mrs.  Ronald  H.  Barlow 90 

Mrs.  W.  J.  Faith 100 

Miss  Muriel  Dodd 110 

Mrs.  Dorothy  Campbell  Kurd 110 

Mrs.  C.  H.  Vanderbeck       .......   120 

Miss  Marion  Hollins       . 130 

Miss  Cecil  Leith 140 

Miss  Marion  Hollins 150 

Mrs.  Anthony  J.  Drexel      .      .      .      .      .      .      .160 

Mrs.  Clarence  H.  Vanderbeck        .     ,.     ,.      .      .    170 
Mrs.  Dorothy  Campbell  Kurd        .      .      .      .      .170 

Mrs.  Ronald  H.  Barlow 170 

Miss  Eleanor  Gates        .      .      .      ....      .      .170 

Miss  Elaine  Rosenthal  .      .....      .      ,  180 


Illustrations 

FACING   PAGE 

Miss  Lilian  Hyde  Feitner 190 

Miss  Muriel  Dodd 200 

Mrs.  H.  A.  Jackson 210 

Mrs.  George  J.  Gould    ........   220 

Mrs.  Lilian  Hyde  Feitner   .      .      .      .      .      .      .230 

Miss  Marion  Hollins 236 

Mrs.  Ronald  H.  Barlow 242 

Mrs.  Clarence  H.  Vanderbeck 248 

Miss  Marion  Hollins 254 

Miss  Gladys  Ravenscroft     . 258 


GOLF  FOR  WOMEN 


BEGINNING  THE  GAME 

NOT  being  a  psychologist  I  cannot  ex- 
plain the  reason,  but  I  am  sure  that 
every  one  has  had  the  same  exper- 
ience in  regard  to  things  that  are  committed 
to  memory  in  childhood  and  those  learned  in 
later  years.     A  proverb,  a  rule  of  grammar, 
a  poem  memorized  in  our  school  days  will  re- 
main fixed  in  our  minds  all  through  life,  but 
it  is  only  those  of  us  who  have  particularly 
well  trained  minds  that  can,  when  we  have 
reached  mature  years,  read  a  verse  and,  decid- 
ing that  it  is  worth  remembering,  repeat  it  in 
its  literal  form  after  a  few  days  have  passed. 
So  it  is  that  the  things  learned  in  childhood 
seem  to  become  part  of  one's  self,  while 

things  learned  during  mature  years  are  a  sort 

i 


2  Golf  for  Women 

of  superstructure  that  may  easily  tumble 
down.  For  this  reason  it  is  well  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  all  games  early  in  life  when 
the  imitative  faculty  is  strong,  and  when  mind 
and  muscle  fall  easily  into  habits  that,  if  per- 
mitted, cling  all  through  life.  Although  it 
is  desirable  to  begin  at  an  early  age  to  learn 
any  game,  it  is  especially  advantageous  in 
learning  to  play  golf.  Golf  is  a  game  that 
requires  very  exact  coordination  of  the  mind, 
the  eye  and  almost  all  the  muscles  of  the 
body.  In  other  words,  there  are  so  many 
things  to  be  done  at  once  that,  if  one  had  to 
think  of  them  all,  it  would  be  practically 
impossible  not  to  neglect  something  impor- 
tant, and  everything  is  important  as  there  are 
no  trifles  in  golf.  It  is,  therefore,  necessary 
to  commit  all  the  physical  motions  to  muscu- 
lar memory,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  so 
that  the  mind  may  be  left  free  to  concentrate 
on  the  one  factor  of  prime  importance,  hitting 
the  ball. 

Every  one  has  seen  caddies,  sometimes  lit- 
tle fellows  only  nine  or  ten  years  old,  surrep- 


Beginning  the  Game  3 

titiously  swinging  their  employers'  clubs,  and 
has  noticed  the  almost  perfect  form  in  which 
they  do  it.  When  one  realizes  that  almost  all 
the  greatest  professionals  have  been  caddies 
and  have  acquired  their  early  training  watch- 
ing and  imitating  the  best  of  the  players  that 
have  employed  them,  one  can  appreciate  the 
value  of  beginning  early. 

For  a  woman  I  believe  the  best  age  at 
which  to  start  a  golf  career  is  about  fifteen. 
The  mind  still  has  the  imitativeness  and 
adaptability  of  childhood  and  the  muscles  the 
flexibility  of  youth,  while  nervousness  and 
self -consciousness,  two  formidable  foes,  have 
not  yet  made  their  appearance  in  the  personal 
make  up.  Unfortunately  every  one  is  not 
able  to  begin  at  this  early  age  and  not  doing 
so  does  not  preclude  the  possibility  of  acquir- 
ing a  good  game,  especially  if  the  beginner, 
no  matter  what  her  years,  will  make  a  deter- 
mined effort  to  approach  the  game  "as  a  little 
child"  in  spirit  and  will  add  that  indispensable 
factor  of  perfect  golf,  her  own  mature  intel- 
ligence. 


4  Golf  for  Women 

The  grown  woman  who  wishes  to  start 
playing,  should  immediately  put  herself  into 
the  hands  of  a  good  professional  teacher.  It 
is  far  better  to  go  to  some  one  whose  business 
it  is  to  teach  and  who  has  had  experience 
along  that  line  than  to  heed  the  instructions 
of  well  meaning  friends.  It  has  been  demon- 
strated over  and  over  again  that  even  the  best 
players  are  frequently  absolutely  unable  to 
describe  accurately  their  method  of  making 
strokes,  so  it  is  not  at  all  safe  to  suppose  that 
because  a  person  can  play  well  he  or  she  has 
also  the  faculty  of  imparting  information  to 
others.  The  novice  should  select  a  teacher 
who  has  had  experience  in  teaching  women 
and  should,  if  possible,  observe  some  of  his 
pupils  in  order  to  judge  the  results  of  his  in- 
struction. She  should  keep  in  mind  also  the 
fact  that  there  are  two  sides  to  teaching  golf : 
one,  the  ability  to  demonstrate  clearly  what 
should  be  done;  and  the  other,  the  ability  to 
see  the  pupil's  faults  and  to  correct  them. 
Many  instructors  can  tell  a  pupil  what  to  do, 
but  when  the  pupil  appears  not  to  be  getting 


Beginning  the  Game  5 

the  desired  result,  cannot  perceive  where  the 
fault  lies  and  so  correct  it.  On'ce  having 
chosen  an  instructor,  the  pupil  should  put  her- 
self entirely  under  his  tutelage  and  obey  his 
behests  as  well  as  in  her  lies.  She  should  not 
dispute  with  him  at  every  point  and  above  all 
should  never  say  or  think  "I  can't,"  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  she  should  not  hesitate  to  ask 
any  question  that  comes  to  her  mind.  She 
should  know  the  "reason  why"  for  every  move 
she  makes,  and  no  false  shame  at  display- 
ing ignorance  should  prevent  her  from  ask- 
ing even  what  may  seem  a  foolish  ques- 
tion. 

That  the  business  of  teaching  women  the 
game  of  golf  is  not  one  without  its  difficulties 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  instructor  is 
apparent  from  the  rather  rueful  statement  of 
a  well-known  professional  who  says,  "They 
are  hard  to  teach  as  from  the  first  they  per- 
sist in  forming  theories  of  their  own,  which, 
needless  to  say,  are  far  from  being  correct. 
.  .  .  They  are  full  of  strange  fancies,  and 
having  once  made  up  their  minds  on  a  certain 


6  Golf  for  Women 

point  it  takes  the  tact  of  a  court  chamberlain 
and  the  diplomacy  of  a  Bismarck  to  make 
them  alter."  This  poor  man  apparently  has 
had  many  troubles,  and  his  remark,  though 
probably  not  intentionally  so,  is  rather  a  re- 
flection on  his  pupils.  There  is  no  reason 
why  women  should  require  at  the  hands  of 
their  teacher  diplomacy  of  any  kind,  and  cer- 
tainly "strange  fancies"  have  no  rightful  place 
in  a  player's  mental  equipment. 

It  is  rather  amusing  to  note  what  some  of 
the  most  famous  professionals  say  about 
teaching  women.  J.  H.  Taylor  in  "Taylor 
on  Golf,"  page  106,  says:  "Ladies,  however, 
I  fear  are  not  always  absolutely  obedient  to 
the  dictates  of  the  tutor.  They  have  prob- 
ably spent  more  or  less  time  upon  the  links 
watching  other  players,  and  so  have  formed 
opinions  of  their  own  as  to  how  this  or  that 
particular  stroke  should  be  played.  Then, 
generally  speaking,  the  idea  of  a  novice  is  al- 
together wrong,  and  it  becomes  necessary  to 
explain  it  away.  This  is  always  a  difficult 
task  for  an  instructor,  but  it  has  to  be  done, 


Beginning  the  Game  7 

and  once  this  feat  is  accomplished,  the  pupil 
becomes  terribly  keen  upon  improving  her 
game  by  the  regular  methods.  Once  a  lady 
can  be  induced  to  think  out  what  will  be  the 
results  of  a  certain  method  of  playing  a 
stroke,  it  is  quite  certain  she  is  more  open  to 
conviction  than  a  man,  and  she  should  im- 
prove quite  as  rapidly  in  her  play." 

Harry  Vardon,  in  "The  Complete  Golfer," 
page  201,  speaks  rather  more  cheerfully  of  his 
women  pupils  when  he  says:  '  .  .  .  I  am 
bound  to  say  that  for  the  most  part  I  have 
found  them  excellent  pupils — better  gener- 
ally than  the  men  learners.  They  seem  to 
take  closer  and  deeper  notice  of  the  hints  you 
give  them,  and  to  retain  the  points  of  the  les- 
son longer  in  their  memories."  So  far  so 
good,  but  a  little  later,  page  204,  Vardon,  on 
further  consideration  of  the  peculiarities  of 
womankind,  unfortunately  feels  it  necessary 
to  add,  "But  it  must  be  confessed  that  in  too 
many  cases  they  do  not  treat  the  difficulties 
of  the  game  with  sufficient  seriousness,  and 
are  inclined  to  think  that  they  can  get  on  best 


8  Golf  for  Women 

in  their  own  way  and  by  the  adoption  of  their 
own  methods." 

Throughout  the  chapters  "for  the  ladies" 
that  are  inserted  in  many  of  the  books  of  the 
most  famous  golf  players  and  teachers,  it  is 
apparent  that  the  writers  are  somewhat  vague 
and  troubled  in  mind  as  to  what  they  should 
say  or  leave  unsaid.  It  is  evident  that  they 
wish  to  speak  a  kind  and  helpful  word  for 
women,  but  it  is  equally  evident  that  they 
do  not  in  the  least  know  how  to  go  about  it, 
and  that  they  close  the  chapters  with  a  feeling 
of  relief.  Let  us  hope  that  they  teach  with 
more  conviction  than  they  write;  otherwise 
their  "learners"  must  have  rather  a  discourag- 
ing time  of  it. 

When  a  woman  engages  the  services  of  a 
professional  teacher  her  whole  mind  and  at- 
tention should  be  given  to  finding  out  every- 
thing she  can  in  the  time  at  her  disposal.  If 
she  will  do  this  assiduously  and  will  practice 
between  lessons  what  she  has  learned,  she  will 
soon  become  well  grounded  in  the  rudiments 
of  the  game.  When  she  has  reached  this  point 


Beginning  the  Game  9 

she  must  keep  on  practicing  patiently  and  in- 
telligently, returning  now  and  then  to  her 
teacher  for  advice  and  criticism  if  she  finds 
she  has  unconsciously  fallen  into  errors  that 
she  cannot  correct  by  herself.  Golf  is  a  game 
that  requires  a  great  deal  of  practice  at  all 
stages,  even  when  one  ranks  as  a  really  good 
player.  It  is  so  easy  to  fall  into  careless 
habits  of  stance  or  swing  that  there  must 
never  at  any  time  be  any  mental  slackness 
while  playing,  for,  if  there  is,  a  carefully  built- 
up  form  will  fall  to  pieces  in  a  few  days. 

Speaking  of  form  brings  to  mind  an  error 
that  many  players  make.  They  regard  "good 
form"  as  the  goal  to  be  striven  for,  whereas, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  "good  form"  is  merely  the 
outward  and  visible  sign  of  strokes  made  cor- 
rectly as  to  stance,  grip,  swing,  and  timing. 
If  one  learns  to  stand,  to  hold  her  club,  to 
make  her  swing  and  to  time  her  stroke  cor- 
rectly, she  will  find  that  she  has  achieved 
good  form  without  being  aware  of  it,  but  no 
one  can  obtain  "good  form"  by  trying  to  cul- 
tivate it  for  its  own  sake. 


10  Golf  for  Women 

The  first  requisite  in  beginning  to  play  is, 
of  course,  to  have  the  proper  clubs  and  balls. 
In  the  selection  of  clubs  it  is  best  for  the  pupil 
to  be  guided  by  the  advice  of  the  instructor 
as  he  will  know  from  his  experience  what 
lengths  and  weights  will  be  most  suitable. 
It  is  well,  however,  for  the  pupil  to  have  in 
mind  the  fact  that  her  clubs  should  be  well 
matched,  and,  for  that  reason,  she  should,  if 
convenient,  get  them  all  at  the  same  time  and 
at  the  same  place.  This  is  not  necessary*  of 
course,  but,  if  the  player  wishes  to  buy  her 
clubs  separately,  she  should  have  with  her  the 
clubs  she  already  possesses  when  selecting  a 
new  club  so  that  she  can  compare  the  new 
with  the  old  and  match  them  accordingly. 

For  the  player  who  is  not  under  the  im- 
mediate tutelage  of  a  professional  I  will  make 
a  few  general  comments  about  the  different 
varieties  of  clubs  and  for  what  qualities  they 
should  be  chosen.  The  essential  clubs  are 
the  driver,  the  brassie,  the  cleek,  the  mid-iron, 
the  mashie,  the  niblick,  and  the  putter. 
These  are  the  clubs  most  in  use  and  are  all 


MRS.  RONALD  H.  BARLOW 
Stance  and  address  for  approach. 


Beginning  the  Game  11 

that  are  really  necessary,  although  as  the 
player  becomes  expert  and  feels  the  need  of 
other  clubs  for  special  situations  there  are  the 
spoon,  the  driving  iron,  the  light-weight 
mashie,  the  jigger,  and  various  rather  hybrid 
clubs. 

It  is  commonly  supposed  that  a  woman 
shorter  than  the  average  should  have  clubs 
correspondingly  short  and  that  a  tall  woman 
should  have  clubs  proportionately  long. 
This  is  just  the  reverse  of  the  truth,  especi- 
ally as  regards  the  wooden  clubs  from  which 
the  greatest  distance  is  expected.  A  mo- 
ment's consideration  will  show  that  a  woman 
shorter  than  the  average  will  need  a  longer 
club  in  order  to  give  her  a  length  of  swing 
that  will  enable  her  to  compete  with  a  taller 
opponent,  and,  conversely,  a  woman  with 
long  arms  can  well  afford  to  use  a  shorter 
club.  The  average  length  of  a  driver,  the 
longest  club,  is  from  forty-one  to  forty-three 
inches.  The  shaft  should  be  slightly  springy 
and  the  "lie,"  or  angle  between  the  head  of 
the  club  and  the  shaft,  should  be  such  that, 


12  Golf  for  Women 

when  the  player  is  addressing  the  ball,  the 
sole  of  the  club  will  rest  evenly  on  the  ground. 
The  face  of  the  club  should  be  slightly  lofted 
and  should  be  neither  very  long  nor  very 
short,  as  either  extreme  is  apt  to  develop  dif- 
ficulties for  the  player. 

The  brassie  should  be  of  the  same  general 
construction  as  the  driver,  the  differences 
being  that  the  shaft  is  a  little  stiffer,  the  face 
a  little  more  lofted,  and  the  club  head,  of 
course,  soled  with  brass.  Braid  says  that  the 
shafts  of  the  two  clubs  should  be  the  same 
length,  but  I  believe  that  for  a  woman  it  is 
just  as  well  to  have  the  shaft  of  the  brassie 
an  inch  or  so  shorter  than  that  of  the  driver. 

The  iron  clubs,  beginning  with  the  cleek 
and  proceeding  in  the  order  I  have  mentioned, 
grow  shorter  as  to  shaft  and  more  upright 
as  to  lie  until  the  extreme  is  reached  in  the 
putter.  It  is  advisable  to  select  iron  clubs 
with  the  shorter  and  broader  type  of  head 
rather  than  the  long,  narrow  one.  Some  per- 
sons feel  that  a  narrow-headed  club  gets  under 
the  ball  more  easily  and  therefore  raises  the 


Beginning  the  Game  13 

ball  more  surely  and  also  puts  more  back  spin 
on  it  than  will  a  broader  faced  club.  This  is  a 
mistake,  however,  as  the  narrow-headed  club 
is  inclined  to  cut  under  the  ball  entirely,  while 
a  broader-faced  club,  if  sloped  back  properly, 
will  raise  the  ball  sufficiently,  especially  if 
weighted  correctly  along  the  lower  edge. 
All  iron  clubs  should  have  their  faces  scored 
with  some  horizontal  lines  or  squares  as  a 
certain  roughness  of  surface  enables  the  club 
to  get  a  better  grip  on  the  ball  and  so  put 
on  the  desired  spin.  It  is  said  that  some  old 
Scotchmen  deliberately  allow  their  clubs  to 
become  coated  with  heavy  rust  in  the  belief 
that  they  thereby  obtain  a  better  hold  on  the 
ball,  a  practice  that  is  followed  by  some  play- 
ers here. 

This  leads  to  the  much-disputed  question 
of  the  marking  of  golf  balls.  Many  persons 
maintain  that  the  brambly  ball  on  account 
of  its  rough  surface  will  take  more  spin  from 
the  club  and  will  also  hold  its  course  more 
accurately  while  in  the  air  than  a  ball  with- 
out excrescences.  It  is  a  well-known  fact, 


14  Golf  for  Women 

and  one  that  has  never  been  satisfactorily 
explained,  that  an  absolutely  smooth  ball 
will  not  maintain  the  course  of  its  flight 
so  well  as  a  rough  one,  but  it  has  been  dem- 
onstrated recently  that  the  brambly  ball  is 
not  the  best  solution  of  the  problem.  The 
ball  with  indentations  or  dimples  has  been 
found  more  satisfactory  for  several  reasons. 
Strictly  speaking,  the  place  of  contact  be- 
tween a  sphere  and  a  plane  is  one  point,  but 
as  the  sphere  under  consideration  is  resilient 
and  the  plane  generally  meets  it  with  decided 
force,  the  point  of  contact,  in  the  case  of  ball 
and  club,  grows  to  a  spot  of  some  definite 
size.  It  may  easily  be  seen  that  a  ball  cov- 
ered with  excrescences  will  not  leave  the  club 
so  smoothly  as  will  a  ball  with  a  lined  or  dim- 
pled surface. 

During  its  flight  through  the  air  the  bram- 
bly ball  does  not  excel  the  dimpled  one  in 
holding  its  course,  and,  once  on  the  green,  it 
develops  a  new  shortcoming.  The  tendency 
of  the  lumpy  ball  to  rest  on  three  of  its  points 
may,  especially  on  a  hard,  close-cut  green, 


Beginning  the  Game  15 

cause  it  to  come  to  a  stop  before  the  dimpled 
ball  would  in  the  same  circumstances.  Al- 
though the  difference  in  length  of  roll  be- 
tween the  two  balls  may  be  only  the  slightest 
fraction  of  an  inch,  yet  that  little  inequality 
may  mean  the  difference  between  dropping 
into  the  hole  and  hanging  on  the  edge.  So  it 
is  that  the  dimpled  marking  for  golf  balls  has 
become  generally  accepted  as  the  most  satis- 
factory, although  whether  or  not  dents  have 
any  superiority  over  transverse  rings,  such 
as  were  scored  on  the  old  guttie  balls,  is  open 
to  some  question. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  manufacturers 
of  golf  balls  have  not  produced  as  yet  a  me- 
chanically perfect  sphere.  The  rubber-core 
ball,  the  one  generally  in  use,  is  made  by  wind- 
ing on  a  small  rubber  core  hundreds  of  feet 
of  rubber  stretched  under  tension.  The 
sphere  made  in  this  way  is  then  covered  by 
two  hemispherical,  gutta-percha  shells  which 
are  pressed  on  and  cemented  together.  The 
facts  that  a  cube  is  often  used  as  a  founda- 
tion, that  the  subsequent  winding  is  not  al- 


16  Golf  for  Women 

ways  done  symmetrically  and  that  the  cover 
is  frequently  of  uneven  thickness,  result  in  the 
balls  being  unbalanced. 

It  is  especially  important  for  putting  that 
a  ball  should  be  correctly  centered  because 
otherwise  it  is  certain  to  wander  off  its  course 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  depending  upon 
how  unbalanced  it  is,  with  what  force  it  is  hit, 
and  the  conditions  of  the  green.  For  accu- 
racy in  rolling  the  old  guttie  balls  are  better 
than  the  modern  balls  because,  as  they  were 
made  of  a  solid  lump  of  compressed  gutta- 
percha,  they  are  practically  sure  to  be  evenly 
balanced.  They  lack  the  resiliency  of  the 
rubber-core  ball  however,  and  because  they 
will  not  spring  off  the  club  so  elastically  and, 
therefore,  cannot  be  driven  quite  the  distance 
of  this  new  favorite,  they  have  been  relegated 
to  the  background. 

There  is  one  subject  on  which  it  should  be 
unnecessary  to  speak  even  to  beginners  at 
the  game  of  golf,  but  which  is  neglected  alike 
by  old  players  and  those  who  are  just  starting 
their  golfing  career:  this  is,  having  a  thorough 


Beginning  the  Game  17 

and  exact  knowledge  of  the  rules  of  the  game. 
Probably  because  counting  the  score  is  so  sim- 
ple and  there  are  not  so  many  "faults"  to  be 
considered  as  there  are,  for  example,  in  the 
game  of  tennis,  players  start  out,  and  fre- 
quently continue,  without  learning  the  well- 
defined  restrictions  and  regulations  that  are 
laid  down  in  the  rules.  Women  are  prob- 
ably greater  offenders  in  this  respect  than 
men.  There  have  been  many  instances  when, 
in  a  tournament,  a  woman  has  been  humili- 
ated by  having  her  score  questioned  or  re- 
jected on  account  of  an  entirely  unconscious 
breach  in  the  observance  of  some  general  or 
local  rule.  The  fact  that  the  fault  commit- 
ted was  a  mistake  of  ignorance  does  not  in 
any  way  mitigate  the  mortification  of  the  un- 
fortunate offender,  but  it  should  make  her  de- 
termine firmly  never  to  be  placed  again  in 
such  a  position ;  strangely  enough  such  a  reso- 
lution is  not  always  carried  out.  It  surely  is 
a  simple  thing  to  buy  a  copy  of  the  rules  of 
the  game  and  to  study  them  carefully.  Some 
women  I  have  known  carry  a  copy  of  the  rules 


18  Golf  for  Women 

in  the  pocket  of  their  golf  bags  so  that  if  any 
discussion  arises  it  may  be  settled  immediately 
without  trusting  to  memory.  This  is  a  very 
sensible  practice  and  if,  added  to  this,  a 
woman,  when  visiting  a  club  strange  to  her, 
will  look  over  the  local  ground  rules  which 
are  printed  on  the  back  of  her  score  card,  the 
possibility  of  a  mistake  on  her  part  will  be 
eliminated. 

There  is,  in  a  great  many  clubs,  a  rule  that 
women  shall  not  play  on  Saturday  afternoons, 
Sundays,  or  holidays,  except  during  such 
hours  as  make  the  rule  practically  prohibi- 
tive. This  regulation  is  made  on  the  theory 
that  women  can  play  at  any  time,  while  men 
have  only  their  holidays  and  week-ends.  It 
follows  that  the  links  are  crowded  at  these 
times,  so  the  women  should  keep  away. 
There  is  some  justice  in  this  position  taken 
by  men,  but  it  works  out  unfairly  to  a  great 
many  women.  There  are,  on  the  one  hand, 
an  increasing  number  of  women  who  work 
during  the  week  and  therefore  cannot  play, 
and  there  are,  also,  many  husbands  and  wives 


Beginning  the  Game  19 

who  are  prevented  by  this  rule  from  playing 
together.  It  seems  to  me  that  it  would  be  a 
far  more  equitable  arrangement  if  women 
were  allowed  to  become  active  club  members 
by  paying  full  dues,  and  to  have  the  rule  read 
that  any  woman  whose  average  score  is  under 
a  hundred  or  even  one  hundred  and  ten  should 
be  allowed  to  play  at  any  time.  That  would 
eliminate  any  woman  that  could  possibly  be 
accused  of  "cluttering  up"  the  links.  If  it 
is  found  that  a  club's  links  are  too  congested 
for  comfort  on  certain  days,  I  think  it  might 
not  be  a  bad  plan  to  have  a  certain  qualifica- 
tion as  to  score  required  of  men  players. 
This  would  probably  raise  a  frightful  howl 
among  the  disqualified  ones,  but  certainly  an 
arrangement  by  which  poor  players  were 
eliminated  during  crowded  hours  would  be 
much  fairer  than  a  prohibition  based  on  sex. 
In  glancing  over  the  index  of  this  book  it 
may  surprise  some  of  my  readers  to  find  that 
I  have  reversed  the  usual  order  of  things  and 
have  started  with  putting  instead  of  with 
driving,  which  is  the  customary  method  of  pro- 


20  Golf  for  Women 

cedure.  I  am  doing  this  for  certain,  well- 
defined  reasons,  and  I  believe  that,  upon  con- 
sideration, almost  every  one  will  agree  with 
me  that  in  learning  to  play  golf  the  most  sen- 
sible and  logical  course  is  to  do  first  that 
which  is  the  most  simple  and  to  progress  by 
natural  stages  to  the  most  difficult.  There 
are  now  many  professionals  who  are  teaching 
golf  in  this  way  and  they  are  thoroughly  con- 
vinced by  results  that  it  is  the  most  practical 
system. 

In  no  other  sport  does  the  beginner  aspire 
to  accomplish  the  most  difficult  shots  before 
having  learned  the  simpler  ones,  but  there 
is  a  certain  fascination  about  swinging  a 
driver  that  lures  one  away  from  the  less  ex- 
citing putter.  Putting  seems  rather  dull 
sport  when  taken  by  itself  and  the  beginner 
is  apt  to  get  tired  of  it  very  quickly  and  to 
long  to  get  on  to  something  else.  If,  how- 
ever, one  can  muster  sufficient  patience  and 
self-control  to  practice  on  the  green  until  a 
fair  amount  of  accuracy  is  achieved  in  mak- 
ing short  puts  and  long  puts  and  puts  on  all 


MISS  ELAINE  ROSENTHAL 

Putting,  stance  and  address. 


Beginning  the  Game  21 

varieties  of  slopes,  a  foundation  will  be  laid 
that  will  make  the  more  complex  strokes  seem 
easy  as  they  are  taken  up  one  after  another. 

Putting  compels  concentration  of  mind, 
delicacy  and  firmness  of  touch,  a  nice  calcula- 
tion of  distance  and  slope,  and,  last,  but  per- 
haps most  important  of  all,  it  forms  the  habit 
of  keeping  the  eye  on  the  ball.  While  put- 
ting, the  eyes  of  the  player  are  immediately 
above  the  ball  and,  as  the  body  is  held  still 
and  the  stroke  is  made  principally  with  the 
wrists  and  forearms,  there  is  not  the  tempta- 
tion to  move  the  head  and  consequently  the 
eyes  that  there  is  in  making  the  more  ex- 
tended strokes.  In  this  way  the  habit  of  at- 
tention, which  is  the  greatest  essential  of  the 
game,  is  formed. 


II 

PUTTING 

IT  is  surely  time  for  the  foolish  attitude 
of  many  good  players  toward  putting  to 
be  abandoned  once  for  all.  It  reminds 
me  of  the  hysterical  damsel  who  begged  her 
companion  to  protect  her  from  "that  horrible 
creature  with  horns,"  and,  when  her  com- 
panion pointed  out  to  her  the  fact  that  the 
horrible  creature  was  nothing  but  a  peacefully 
grazing  mooley  cow  that  did  not  have  any 
horns,  grew  very  indignant  and  said  that  all 
cows  had  horns  and  that  she  had  never  heard 
of  one  that  did  not. 

In  like  manner  many  players,  metaphoric- 
ally speaking,  throw  up  their  hands  when  they 
reach  the  green  and  act  as  though  the 
smoothly  rolling  turf  and  the  innocent  white 
ball  had  conspired  to  defeat  their  best  en- 
deavors. When  they  are  reminded  that  put- 

22 


Putting  23 

ting,  after  all,  is  rather  a  simple  process,  they 
fall  back  on  the  assertion  that  some  putters 
are  "lucky"  but  cling  to  their  distrust  of  the 
seemingly  guileless  ball  and  green. 

Why  the  very  best  players  have  hypnotized 
themselves  into  this  helpless  and  hopeless 
state  of  mind  about  putting  is  difficult  to 
understand,  but  their  own  writings  testify 
that  they  are  suffering  from  some  hallucina- 
tion on  the  subject.  J.  H.  Taylor,  in  "Tay- 
lor on  Golf,"  page  83,  says:  "And  here  I 
may  say  at  once  it  is  impossible  to  teach  a 
man  to  putt.  Even  the  leading  professionals 
are  weak  in  this  department  of  the  game.  Do 
you  think  they  would  not  improve  themselves 
in  this  particular  stroke  were  such  a  thing 
within  the  range  of  possibility?  Certainly 
they  would."  Later  on  he  says:  "Putting, 
in  short,  is  so  different  to  any  other  branch 
of  the  game  that  the  good  putter  may  be  said 
to  be  born,  not  made." 

If  one  were  to  take  Taylor  at  his  word  one 
might  as  well  give  up  putting  before  begin- 
ning unless  one  discovered  oneself  to  be  that 


24  Golf  for  Women 

phenomenon,  a  born  putter.  There  would 
then  be  occasion  for  great  rejoicing  because 
against  such  an  especially  favored  mortal  the 
conspiracy  of  the  green  could  have  no  effect. 

Harry  Vardon  believes  that  every  one  is 
endowed  by  nature  with  a  certain  putting 
style  and  it  is  quite  useless  for  a  teacher  to 
try  to  do  more  than  help  him  cultivate  his 
own  particular  method.  In  "The  Complete 
Golfer,"  page  143,  after  having  referred  to 
his  teaching  of  other  strokes,  he  says :  "I  have 
no  similar  instruction  to  offer  in  the  matter 
of  putting.  There  is  no  rule,  and  there  is  no 
best  way.  .  .  .  The  fact  is  that  there  is  more 
individuality  in  putting  than  in  any  other  de- 
partment of  golf  and  it  is  absolutely  impera- 
tive that  this  individuality  should  be  allowed 
to  have  its  way." 

On  another  page  he  says:  "The  heart  that 
does  not  quail  when  a  yawning  bunker  lies 
far  ahead  of  the  tee  just  at  the  distance  of  a 
good  drive,  beats  in  trouble  when  there  are 
but  thirty  inches  of  smooth  turf  to  be  run 
over  before  the  play  of  the  hole  is  ended." 


Putting  25 

Truly,  putting  must  be  to  him  a  fearsome 
operation.  It  is  remarkable  that,  after  hav- 
ing made  these  most  discouraging  statements, 
these  eminent  players  proceed  to  do  the  very 
thing  they  say  is  impossible — tell  their  read- 
ers how  to  put — yet  they  do  this  and  fill  many 
pages  with  advice  and  instruction.  Perhaps, 
though  themselves  lacking  in  faith  as  to  the 
efficacy  of  such  teaching,  they  think  that  a 
book  on  golf  would  seem  somewhat  deficient 
if  the  subject  of  putting  were  ignored  and 
so  seek  to  give  the  public  what  it  wants, 
whether  or  not  they  believe  the  public  will  be 
benefitted  thereby. 

Whatever  may  be  the  opinions  of  these 
well-known  men,  however,  makes  no  differ- 
ence to  me  in  my  present  purpose.  I  believe 
that  any  woman  with  sound  faculties,  mod- 
erate intelligence,  and  patience  may  be  taught 
to  put  if  she  has  the  desire  to  learn  and  the 
willingness  to  work  at  it.  Of  course  there 
are  some  women  that  pick  up  putting  more 
easily  than  others,  just  as  some  have  more 
aptitude  in  learning  any  game  than  their 


26  Golf  for  Women 

less-gifted  sisters,  and  these  are  the  ones  that 
have  in  them  the  stuff  of  which  exceptional 
putters  are  made,  but  one  does  not  need  to 
be  an  exceptional  putter  to  play  a  very  credit- 
able game  of  golf.  There  are  some  sports, 
such  as  shooting,  for  example,  that  seem  to 
require  some  special  faculty  that  is  difficult 
to  cultivate  if  one  is  not  born  with  it,  but 
putting  demands  only  ordinary  application 
and  a  great  deal  of  practice. 

There  are  two  qualities  that  a  woman  who 
wishes  to  put  well  must  make  up  her  mind 
to  cultivate  at  the  start,  concentration  and 
self-confidence.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that 
players,  after  having  gone  through  all  the 
necessary  preliminary  motions,  allow  their  at- 
tention to  wander  when  they  are  just  about 
to  hit  the  ball.  It  is  not  that  they  actually 
begin  thinking  of  something  else,  but  that 
they  "let  up"  just  at  the  crucial  moment  and 
therefore  make  a  weak,  futile  shot.  That 
this  is  true  in  putting  more  than  in  any  other 
stroke  in  the  game  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
put  is  made  slowly  and  deliberately,  and  that 


Putting  27 

it  requires  a  distinct  effort  to  keep  the  atten- 
tion absolutely  fixed  from  the  taking  of  the 
stance  to  the  end  of  the  follow  through. 

Probably  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  make 
a  particular  point  of  self-confidence  if  it  were 
not  for  the  fact  that  there  has  been  so  much 
silly  talk  about  the  strange  and  peculiar  dif- 
ficulties of  putting  that  the  average  player  is 
in  the  state  of  mind  of  a  child  who  has  been 
sent  to  bed  alone,  and  who  is  afraid  of  the 
dark;  she  is  constantly  dreading  an  indefin- 
able something.  It  does  not  make  a  vital 
difference  if  the  player's  hands  are  a  few 
inches  higher  or  lower  on  the  shaft  of  the 
club,  or  if  her  left  foot  is  a  little  nearer  to,  or 
farther  from,  the  ball  than  usual,  but  the  spirit 
in  which  she  undertakes  to  roll  the  ball  into 
the  hole  will  make  all  the  difference  between 
its  getting  there  or  not.  The  woman  who 
says  to  herself,  "I  am  going  to  make  this  put," 
will  probably  do  so,  whereas  the  woman  who 
says,  "Oh,  dear,  I  shall  never  be  able  to  do 
this,"  has  practically  failed  already. 

Do  not  think  that  I  mean  to  say  that  it  is 


28  Golf  for  Women 

easy  to  become  a  good  putter.  It  is  not. 
The  principles  of  putting  are  simple  enough 
and  one  can  readily  learn  all  the  theory  of  it 
in  a  very  short  time,  but  to  become  anywhere 
near  perfect  in  execution  takes  practice  and 
care  and  care  and  practice  until  one's  patience 
is  stretched  almost  to  the  breaking  point. 
However,  although  perfection  can  never  be 
attained,  a  sufficient  degree  of  skill  and  ac- 
curacy may  be  reached  by  any  one  who  desires 
it  strongly  enough. 

There  is  an  encouraging  thought  that 
should  cheer  the  player  while  she  is  faithfully 
practicing  putting,  and  that  is  the  fact  that 
she  is  meanwhile  laying  a  sure  foundation  on 
which  to  build  up  her  other  strokes.  The 
habits  of  close  attention,  keeping  the  eye  on 
the  ball,  firmness  of  grip,  and  accuracy  of 
swing  and  follow-through  will  become  a  part 
of  her  golfing  self  and  will  make  the  subse- 
quent, more  complex  strokes  easy  additions 
to  the  structure  of  her  game. 


Putting  29 

SELECTING  THE  PUTTER 

A  chapter  of  considerable  length  could  be 
written  on  the  different  styles  of  putters  that 
have  been  put  on  the  market  and  the  various 
theories  of  the  people  who  have  advanced 
them.  There  is  no  other  club  about  which 
there  is  so  much  difference  of  opinion  among 
players  and  about  which  an  individual  player 
changes  her  opinion  so  frequently.  When  a 
player  is  putting  badly,  after  she  has  blamed 
every  conceivable  disturbing  element  for  her 
lack  of  success,  she  generally  ends  by  decid- 
ing that  there  is  something  wrong  with  her 
putter.  Generally  there  is  some  well-mean- 
ing friend  at  hand  who  suggests  that  she  try 
some  other  variety  of  club,  which  she  straight- 
way does.  For  a  few  weeks  afterward  she 
will  loudly  proclaim  the  merits  of  her  new 
club,  but  later  she  will  become  dissatisfied 
again  and  will  try  something  else.  This  is  a 
very  common  course  of  procedure  and  one 
which  does  not  get  a  player  any  farther  on 
the  road  to  consistently  good  putting. 


30  Golf  for  Women 

Of  course,  if  a  player  is  convinced  that  her 
putter  is  wrong,  the  only  sensible  thing  to  do 
is  to  cast  it  aside  and  get  another,  but  the  new 
one  should  be  selected  with  care  and  thought 
so  that  it  will  surely  meet  with  the  player's 
requirements,  and  then  it  should  be  cherished 
long  and  affectionately.  Constant  changing 
of  clubs  cannot  fail  to  unsettle  one's  play  and 
to  result  in  confusion  of  mind  and  inaccuracy 
of  stroke. 

On  the  whole  the  putter  that  has  the  most 
good  qualities  to  recommend  it  is  that  with  an 
iron  head  of  sufficient  weight  to  feel  firm  in 
the  hand,  the  blade  rather  broad  with  the  face 
just  lofted  enough  to  be  visible,  and  the  lie 
fairly  upright.  The  length  of  the  shaft  de- 
pends, of  course,  on  the  height  of  the  player, 
but  it  is  well  not  to  have  it  so  long  that  in 
playing  short  puts,  when  the  hands  are  placed 
somewhat  down  the  shaft,  there  is  so  much 
of  the  grip  between  the  hands  and  the  body 
as  to  be  awkward. 

Some  players  maintain  that  a  good  piece 
of  the  shaft  extending  above  the  hands  acts 


MRS.  BLAKE 
Playing  a  chip  shot. 


MRS.  W.  J.  FAITH 
Finish  of  put. 


Putting  31 

as  a  sort  of  counter  balance  and  steadies  the 
club  when  a  short  put  is  being  played.  Oth- 
ers claim  that  each  player  should  have  two 
putters,  one  for  long  puts,  and  one  for  short 
puts.  Neither  of  these  theories  is  altogether 
correct.  It  is  true  that,  when  the  hands  are 
down  the  shaft  of  the  club,  the  club  feels 
lighter  and  more  easily  controlled,  but  carry- 
ing this  to  an  extreme  cannot  help  resulting 
in  the  projecting  shaft  becoming  a  nuisance. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  is  great  danger  in 
changing  frequently  from  one  club  to  an- 
other when  the  conditions  are  very  nearly  the 
same.  The  necessary  physical  and  mental 
readjustment  is  apt  to  give  the  player  a  feel- 
ing of  strangeness  that  will  impair  the  deli- 
cacy of  her  stroke. 

Some  time  ago  I  had  the  opportunity  of 
observing  closely  a  class  of  jewelry  makers. 
The  novices  were  surrounded  by  rows  of 
shiny,  new  tools,  and  as  they  worked  they  con- 
stantly laid  down  one  tool  and  picked  up  an- 
other. The  master  of  the  class,  an  old  Ger- 
man who  had  been  making  handmade  jewelry 


32  Golf  for  Women 

for  many  years,  had  a  few  well-worn  imple- 
ments and  he  would  rarely  change  from  one 
to  another  unless  the  character  of  his  work 
changed.  It  occurred  to  me  then  that  the 
finest  workmen  do  not  burden  themselves 
with  a  superfluity  of  tools  and  I  believe  that 
the  same  principle  holds  good  in  golf.  It  is 
better  to  have  a  few  clubs,  carefully  chosen  so 
that  they  may  be  made  to  meet  all  possible 
requirements,  and  to  learn  to  use  them  ex- 
pertly than  it  is  to  have  a  great  number,  each 
for  one  specific  situation,  and  to  keep  con- 
stantly shifting  from  one  to  another. 

In  the  past  decade  the  character  of  the  club 
heads  has  changed  somewhat.  Both  the  iron 
and  wooden  clubs  have  shorter  and  broader 
heads  than  was  formerly  the  custom.  This 
change  is  a  marked  improvement  in  club 
structure.  Taking  the  putter  as  an  example 
it  is  easy  to  see  that  a  club  of  this  class  with  a 
narrow  blade,  even  though  it  has  very  little 
loft,  strikes  the  ball  below  its  center  and  so 
has  the  tendency  to  give  the  ball  back  spin 
which  is  exceedingly  undesirable  in  putting. 


Putting  83 

If  the  blade  is  narrow  and  also  has  a  decided 
slope  back  it  may  even  cause  the  ball  to  hop 
off  the  grass.  As  the  object  in  putting  is  to 
keep  the  ball  close  to  the  green  and  to  roll  it 
smoothly  into  the  hole,  a  narrow-bladed  put- 
ter is  decidedly  unreliable.  Probably  the  best 
way  to  determine  the  proper  width  for  a  put- 
ter is  to  compare  it  with  a  ball.  If  the  width 
of  the  blade  is  the  same  as  the  diameter  of  the 
ball,  or  even  a  trifle  more,  then  the  center  of 
the  blade  will  meet  the  ball  at  the  point  far- 
thest from  the  hole  and  the  ball  will  be  rolled 
evenly  forward. 

There  has  been  a  certain  vogue  for  wooden 
or  aluminum-headed  putters,  and  many  play- 
ers claim  that  they  find  them  very  steady  and 
that  the  ball  rolls  off  them  more  smoothly 
than  it  does  from  the  regular  iron-headed  va- 
riety. Whether  or  not  these  qualities  exist 
is  a  question  open  to  discussion,  but  there  is 
no  doubt  that  there  is  a  very  decided  objec- 
tion to  all  broad-soled  putters.  The  objec- 
tion exists  in  the  fact  that  the  wide  sole  im- 
mediately penalizes  the  slightest  error  at  the 


34  Golf  for  Women 

moment  of  contact  of  ball  and  club,  and  in 
beginning  of  the  follow-through.  If,  for  ex- 
ample, a  slightly  faulty  stroke  is  made  with 
an  iron  putter  and  the  club  is  too  much  on  the 
rise  at  the  moment  of  contact  with  the  ball, 
no  serious  trouble,  in  all  probability,  will  re- 
sult, but,  if  a  wooden  putter  is  being  used,  in 
such  a  situation  the  back  edge  of  the  sole  will 
drag  the  ground.  So,  also,  after  the  moment 
at  which  the  ball  is  hit,  if  the  club  is  on  an  up- 
ward sweep,  the  breadth  of  sole  will  cause  the 
club  to  be  grounded.  In  other  words  the 
broad-soled  putter  makes  it  necessary  for  the 
sole  of  the  club  to  be  kept  parallel  with  the 
ground  before  and  after  the  ball  is  struck; 
this,  of  course,  should  be  done,  but  the  broad- 
soled  club  leaves  much  less  room  for  error 
than  the  iron  one. 

TAKING  AIM 

The  lie  of  the  putter  should  be  fairly  up- 
right so  that  the  often  cited,  pendulum-like 
motion  may  be  maintained  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible. It  is  a  physical  impossibility  to  put 


Putting  35 

this  simile  into  practical  use  in  an  exact  form 
as,  if  it  were  attempted,  the  hands  would  come 
between  the  eyes  and  the  ball,  and  a  strange 
and  unnatural  grip  would  have  to  be  adopted. 
It  is  obviously  necessary  that  the  hands  must 
be  nearer  the  body  than  the  ball  and  that  the 
body  must  be  slightly  stooped.  Any  extreme 
of  this  stooping  position  may  well  be  avoided, 
since  an  attitude  that  approaches  a  crouch  will 
certainly  cramp  the  muscles  of  the  entire 
body  and  result  in  stiff  and  awkward  play. 
The  slope  of  the  shaft  of  the  club  away  from 
the  perpendicular  should,  roughly  speaking, 
correspond  with  the  slope  of  the  body  from 
the  hips  upward  so  that  as  the  player  stands, 
club  in  hands,  her  eyes  will  be  directly  above 
the  ball.  This  last  is  a  very  important  point 
and  deserves  special  consideration.  If  the 
eyes  are  above  the  ball,  then  the  eyes,  the  ball, 
and  the  hole  will  lie  in  the  same  plane  of  vision, 
and  it  will  be  comparatively  easy  to  get  an 
accurate  aim.  Mr.  P.  A.  Vaile,  in  "Modern 
Golf"  calls  this  the  "triangle  of  vision,"  and 
I  can  think  of  no  other  phrase  that  expresses 


36  Golf  for  Women 

the  idea  so  well.  So  far  as  I  know  there  is 
no  other  writer  who  has  dwelt  especially  on 
this  method  of  insuring  a  true  aim,  but  it  is 
so  important  that  I  must  speak  of  it  fully 
even  at  the  risk  of  appearing  to  borrow  from 
him.  After  all,  a  true  aim  is  the  most  es- 
sential quality  of  a  successful  put.  The  ball 
may  be  tapped,  orchipped,  or  pushed,  in  short 
it  may  be  hit  any  way  at  all  and,  if  the  di- 
rection is  correct,  it  has  a  good  chance  of  go- 
ing into  the  hole,  but  if  the  direction  is  faulty 
the  most  perfectly  executed  stroke  possible 
will  be  futile.  It  is  supremely  worth  while 
to  take  every  precaution  that  will  insure  the 
ball's  starting  its  journey  in  the  line  that  will 
lead  it  to  the  cup. 

The  accompanying  diagrams  will  show  per- 
haps more  clearly  than  words  the  usefulness 
of  the  "triangle  of  vision."  Let  us  look  at 
the  green  from  a  bird's-eye  view  and  consider 
C  the  cup,  B  the  ball,  and  A  the  eyes. 

-T* 


Putting  3T 

In  Figure  1  the  eyes  are  beyond  the  ball 
so  that  the  player  looks  back  toward  her  feet, 
down  the  line  AB  to  see  it,  and  then  away 
toward  the  hole,  down  the  line  AC.  This 
necessitates  her  looking  down  two  different 
lines,  AB  and  AC,  and  makes  the  calculation 
of  the  third  line  BC  difficult.  If,  however, 

A. 


B 

the  eyes  are  directly  above  the  ball  as  in  Fig- 
ure II  the  player  is  able  to  look  along  the  in- 
tended line  of  run  of  the  ball  instead  of  at 
it,  thus  having  a  much  better  chance  of  get- 
ting a  true  aim. 

THE  STANCE 

Aside  from  emphasizing  the  importance  of 
having  the  eyes  above  the  ball,  there  is  not  a 
great  deal  that  need  be  said  about  the  stance 
while  putting.  A  great  deal  of  latitude  is 
allowed  for  each  person's  physical  and  mental 
peculiarities.  I  might  say  that  this  latitude 
is  allowed  by  necessity  because  the  players 


38  Golf  for  Women 

take  it  anyway.  Nowhere  in  the  game  of 
golf  are  so  many  mannerisms  exhibited  as  on 
the  green,  but  so  long  as  they  are  harmless 
it  is  no  use  trying  to  correct  them.  It  is,  after 
all,  the  results  that  count,  and  if  players  dif- 
fer somewhat  as  to  their  methods  it  is  of  no 
consequence  so  long  as  good  results  are  ob- 
tained. However,  there  are  certain  "don'ts" 
that  must  be  observed  by  any  player  who  seri- 
ously wishes  to  be  a  good  putter.  They  may 
be  briefly  stated:  don't  cramp  yourself;  don't 
sway  the  body;  don't  move  the  head;  don't 
tap  or  shove;  don't  forget  to  follow  through; 
don't  take  your  eye  off  the  ball.  If  the  ar- 
ray of  don'ts  is  carefully  observed,  the  exact 
position  of  the  feet  and  body  is  not  of  im- 
portance. 

I  believe,  of  course,  that  there  is  a  "best 
way"  to  stand  as  there  is  generally  one  best 
way  for  doing  anything,  but  because  it  is 
most  expedient  for  the  majority  does  not 
mean  that  it  must  be  followed  by  all  individ- 
uals. It  is  well  to  notice,  however,  that  the 
greater  number  of  good  players  stand  with 


Putting  39 

feet  far  enough  apart  to  give  a  firm  base,  the 
left  foot  a  little  farther  from  the  line  to  the 
hole  than  the  right,  and  pointing  somewhat  to- 
ward the  hole.  This  is  a  fairly  open  stance 
and  gives  the  player  ease  and  freedom  of 
movement.  The  ball  should  be  a  little  nearer 
the  left  foot  than  the  right  in  order  to  avoid 
the  possibility  of  striking  down  upon  it. 

While  speaking  of  the  position  of  the  body 
to  be  adopted  for  putting,  it  may  be  well  to 
add  a  suggestion  that  applies  not  only  here 
but  to  all  the  strokes  of  the  game  and  that  is 
the  fact  that  it  is  well  at  all  tijnes  to  keep 
the  line  of  the  shoulders  almost  parallel  to 
the  line  in  which  the  ball  is  to  travel.  Each 
arm  has  a  tendency  to  act  as  a  check  or  pull 
on  the  other,  and,  if  the  shoulders  are  out  of 
parallel,  the  inclination  of  the  player  will  be 
to  pull  the  club  in  across  the  ball  when  the 
left  shoulder  is  too  far  back,  and  to  thrust  it 
out  across  the  ball  when  the  left  shoulder  is 
too  far  advanced.  In  order  to  overcome  the 
difficulties  that  arise  from  playing  with  two 
hands  supported  from  points  approximately 


40  Golf  for  Women 

eighteen  inches  apart,  some  players  advocate 
using  the  left  hand  as  the  master  hand,  others 
advocate  using  the  right.  The  fact  remains, 
nevertheless,  that  we  have  two  hands  to  use 
and  that  we  use  them  both  in  playing  golf. 
It  seems  much  more  reasonable  to  use  them 
together  as  nearly  as  possible  as  one,  so  that 
we  may  have  the  advantage  of  the  double 
strength  where  strength  is  needed,  and  a 
nicely  adjusted  balance  where  delicacy  is 
needed,  than  to  abandon  at  least  part  of  the 
usefulness  of  one  or  the  other. 

THE  GRIP 

It  would  appear  that  to  hold  a  golf  club 
in  the  hands  would  be  the  simplest  and  most 
natural  act  in  the  world,  but  from  the  endless 
discussion  that  there  has  been  on  the  subject 
it  seems  that  it  is  not.  For  reasons  best 
known  to  themselves,  many  persons  have 
spent  a  great  deal  of  time  trying  to  exagger- 
ate the  difficulties  of  golf.  There  is  no  one 
who  will  deny  that  golf  is  a  difficult  game, 
but  it  is  the  practice  and  not  the  principles 


Putting  41 

of  the  game  that  brings  despair  to  the  aspir- 
ing player.  A  very  little  thought  and  study 
will  make  any  even  fairly  intelligent  person 
thoroughly  conversant  with  all  the  simple 
science  of  standing,  holding,  and  swinging  the 
club,  and  hitting  the  ball.  It  is  the  skill  to 
put  the  theory  into  effect  that  is  difficult  to 
acquire.  After  a  player  has  read  a  helpful 
book  on  golf,  or  has  culled  the  best  points 
from  several  books,  she  proceeds  to  the  links 
feeling  within  herself  the  ability  to  play  as 
never  before.  When  she  finds  that  her  score 
is  perhaps  not  so  good  as  it  was  on  her  previ- 
ous round  she  feels  disgusted  and  discour- 
aged. If  she  has  changed  her  method  of 
playing  in  some  respect,  having  been  con- 
vinced by  her  reading  that  she  had  been  play- 
ing wrongly,  she  is  apt  to  declare  that  the 
old  way  suits  her  and  that  she  cannot  do  dif- 
ferently even  though  her  reason  tells  her  she 
is  mistaken.  Nothing  is  more  fatal  to  one's 
game  than  to  keep  changing  about,  trying 
first  one  thing  and  then  another,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  when  the  test  of  pure  reason  has 


42  Golf  for  Women 

been  applied  to  a  principle  and  it  has  been 
found  good,  it  is  foolish  to  stick  to  mistaken 
methods  because,  through  habit,  they  have 
become  easy.  If  every  player  would  apply 
this  test  of  reason  to  every  theory  she  hears 
or  reads  about  and  would  discard  all  those 
that  do  not  bear  the  test  triumphantly,  she 
would  lighten  her  mind  of  much  useless  junk. 
After  having  freed  my  mind  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent by  this  digression  we  shall  now  consider 
the  grip  of  the  club.  It  may  be  well  to  state 
here  that  what  I  say  applies  to  all  other 
strokes  as  well  as  to  putting,  as  I  believe  that 
any  obvious  change  in  the  position  of  the 
hands,  while  changing  from  one  club  to  an- 
other, has  an  unsettling  effect  on  the  play. 
The  only  variation  in  the  usual  grip  that  may 
be  advantageous  for  the  shorter  and  more 
delicate  put  is  the  dropping  of  the  shaft  a  lit- 
tle more  into  the  fingers  than  is  proper  for 
shots  requiring  strength  for  distance.  This 
variation  is  merely  a  suggestion  and  its  adop- 
tion may  well  be  left  to  the  inclination  of  the 
player. 


Putting  43 

The  grip  that  is  used  by  most  professional 
players  and  is  most  generally  advocated 
among  men  is  the  overlapping  or  Vardon 
grip.  This  grip  is  accomplished  by  holding 
the  shaft  of  the  club,  not  in  the  palm  of  the 
hand,  but  well  down  toward  the  fingers,  the 
right  hand  overlapping  the  left  so  that  the  left 
thumb  is  buried  beneath  the  right  palm  and 
the  little  finger  of  the  right  hand  hooks  over 
the  forefinger  of  the  left.  It  will  be  seen 
that  thus  disposed,  the  hands  act  practically 
as  one  and  the  wrists  are  brought  so  closely 
together  that  they  will  of  necessity  bend  in 
unison.  These  are  the  two  great  points  of 
advantage  in  the  Vardon  grip,  but  there  is 
an  objection  to  the  Vardon  grip  that  has  pre- 
vented its  adoption  becoming  universal. 
This  objection  is  that  the  right  hand  is  pried 
away  from  the  shaft  of  the  club  by  the  under- 
lying left,  and  consequently  the  hold  of  the 
right  hand  is  considerably  weakened.  A  man 
with  exceedingly  powerful  hands  may  be  able 
to  spare  a  little  strength,  but  not  all  men  can 
afford  the  loss  and  few,  if  any,  women. 


44  Golf  for  Women 

Such  well-known  players  as  Mr.  Harold 
H.  Hilton  and  Mr.  John  Ball  do  not  use  the 
overlapping  grip.  James  Sherlock  says  of 
it  that,  "Its  effectiveness  depends  entirely  on 
the  strength  of  the  fingers  and  forearm.  It 
would  be  useless  for  players  to  attempt  it 
who  have  no  more  power  in  their  wrists  and 
fingers  than  I  have."  Further  on,  "New 
Book  of  Golf,"  page  190,  he  adds,  "There  is 
no  need  to  think,  however,  that  the  overlap- 
ping grip  has  any  particular  value  over  any 
other  grip." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  whereas  Sher- 
lock frankly  admits  that  his  hands  and  wrist 
are  not  strong  enough  to  make  it  desirable  for 
him  to  use  the  Vardon  grip,  George  Duncan 
insists  that  it  should  be  adopted  by  women 
players.  In  his  second  article  on  "Golf  for 
Women"  in  "Golf  Illustrated,"  he  says: 
"The  overlapping  finger  grip  will  give  all  the 
power  that  is  needed,  and  it  has  the  over- 
whelming advantage  of  allowing  the  player 
to  hold  the  club  firmly  without  stiffening  the 
wrist  and  the  forearm.  In  my  opinion,  there- 


Putting  45 

fore,  it  is  impossible  to  attach  too  much  im- 
portance to  this  particular  point." 

When  eminent  players  disagree  about  such 
a  fundamental  point  in  the  game  as  this,  it  is 
rather  discouraging  to  the  beginner;  sur- 
rounded by  so  much  diversity  of  opinion  she 
does  not  know  where  to  pin  her  faith.  The 
majority  of  professional  players  among  men 
use  the  overlapping  grip,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  number  of  very  successful  ones  do 
not.  Among  her  own  sex  there  is  Miss  Rav- 
enscroft,  the  famous  English  golfer,  who 
places  her  hands  on  the  club  shaft  in  such  a 
way  that  they  hardly  touch  each  other  at  all. 

In  order  to  consider  this  problem  of  the 
grip  intelligently  it  is  necessary  to  decide  first 
what  is  the  prime  essential  of  a  correct  hold 
upon  the  club.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
having  the  hands  close  together  and  the  fin- 
gers so  disposed  as  to  give  them  the  advantage 
of  all  their  strength  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
women  players.  To  this  end  a  modification 
of  the  Vardon  grip  may  be  adopted.  All 
four  fingers  of  the  right  hand  must  be  firmly 


46  Golf  for  Women 

placed  upon  the  club,  and  the  little  fingers  im- 
mediately against  the  forefinger  of  the  left 
hand.  The  thumb  of  the  left  hand,  however, 
may  safely  remain  under  the  right  hand  as 
there  is  a  natural  groove  at  the  base  of  the 
palm  that  will  allow  the  presence  of  the  thumb 
without  loosening  the  hold  of  the  right  upon 
the  club.  By  careful  study  of  this  method 
of  holding  the  club  it  will  be  seen  to  have  prac- 
tically all  the  advantages  and  none  of  the  dis- 
advantages of  the  overlapping  grip,  and  I 
would  strongly  urge  its  adoption  by  all  women 
who  do  not  at  present  use  it. 

OBSERVING  THE   CONDITION   OF   THE   GREEN 

We  have  now  considered  the  stance  for 
putting,  the  grip,  and  the  relative  position  of 
the  ball  to  the  player,  but  there  is  one  more 
point  to  be  thought  of  before  the  player  actu- 
ally makes  her  stroke ;  this  is  the  condition  of 
the  green.  Whether  the  grass  is  short  or 
long,  and  whether  the  ground  is  damp  or  dry 
makes  a  great  difference  in  the  amount  of 
distance  the  ball  will  cover,  given  a  blow  of 


Putting  47 

a  certain  force.  It  is  a  common  occurrence 
to  hear  players  complaining  of  the  fastness 
of  the  green  when  their  balls  overrun  the 
hole,  or  of  its  heaviness  when  they  find  them- 
selves "not  up."  Such  complaints  should 
never  be  made  as  excuses  because,  when  a 
player  first  sets  foot  upon  the  smooth  turf, 
she  should  carefully  observe  its  condition. 
In  fact,  if  she  has  a  short  approach  shot,  she 
would  do  well  to  look  at  the  green  before  her 
ball  is  actually  upon  it,  because  a  well  made 
approach  may  often  be  run  down  in  one 
stroke,  and  thus  one  stroke  of  the  traditional 
"two  on  the  green"  may  be  saved. 

TAKING  THE  LINE 

The  process  of  taking  the  line  to  the  hole 
is  accompanied  by  a  great  deal  of  useless  and 
annoying  delay  by  fussy  players,  but  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  time  may  permissibly  be  spent 
in  standing  or  crouching  behind  the  ball  and 
looking  over  it  to  its  destination.  The  habit 
of  looking  from  the  hole  to  the  ball  is  one 
that,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  has  little  to  recom- 


48  Golf  for  Women 

mend  it.  The  different  line  of  view  does  not 
seem  to  have  any  particular  advantage,  while 
the  time  spent  in  looking  this  way  and  that 
tends  to  make  the  player  self-conscious,  and 
certainly  does  not  tend  to  make  her  opponent 
more  amiable. 

SOLING  THE  CLUB 

Having  made  herself  aware  of  the  kind  of 
grass  over  which  her  ball  must  travel,  and  hav- 
ing allowed  a  conception  of  the  distance  that 
her  ball  lies  from  the  hole  to  sink  into  her 
consciousness,  the  player  takes  her  position, 
club  in  hands,  and  is  about  to  play.  But  there 
is  one  thing  more  before  the  put  can  be  made: 
that  is  soling  the  club  so  that  the  head  of  it 
will  be  at  a  right  angle  to  the  ball's  intended 
line  of  run.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
center  of  the  face  of  the  club  head,  considered 
both  longitudinally  and  vertically,  is  the  point 
at  whicji  it  should  meet  the  ball.  In  putting, 
any  attempt  to  play  off  the  toe  or  the  heel  of 
the  club  is  foolishness,  and  should  not  be  con- 
sidered for  a  moment.  In  order  to.  get  an 


Putting  49 

unobstructed  view  of  the  imaginary  T  made 
by  the  face  of  the  club  and  the  line  of  run, 
many  players  first  sole  the  club  in  front  of 
the  ball.  Doing  this  is  an  unobjectionable 
habit  and,  if  it  makes  the  player  feel  more 
confidence  in  her  aim,  there  is  no  reason  why 
she  should  not  indulge  in  this  practice.  On 
thinking  it  over,  it  would  seem  that  the  added 
accuracy  of  aim  that  would  be  gained  by 
this  unobstructed  vision  would  be  counter- 
acted by  the  fact  that  the  player  must  lift 
the  club  over  the  ball  before  she  makes  her 
stroke,  and  in  so  doing  runs  the  risk  of  mov- 
ing the  club  head  ever  so  little  out  of  its  care- 
fully arranged  position.  This  question  of 
whether  the  club  shall  be  soled  before  or  be- 
hind the  ball,  is,  however,  unimportant,  and 
may  well  be  left  to  the  player's  inclination. 

THE   STROKE 

The  line  having  been  taken  and  the  club 
soled,  the  time  has  now  arrived  for  the  all 
important  put  to  be  played.  It  has  been 
said  so  many  times  that  the  motion  of  the 


50  Golf  for  Women 

club  head  in  putting  is  like  the  swinging  of 
a  pendulum  that  no  sooner  does  one  think 
"putting"  but  "pendulum"  comes  into  the 
mind  as  an  immediate  corollary.  As  I  have 
said  before,  this  simile  has  been  greatly  over- 
worked, and,  at  best,  it  does  not  bear  too 
close  following.  It  is  at  fault  in  two  ways: 
one,  that  the  wrists  cannot  be  directly  over 
the  club  head  in  a  manner  corresponding  to 
the  position  of  the  point  of  suspension  of  a 
pendulum  over  the  weight;  the  other,  that  the 
arc  of  a  pendulum  would  graze  the  horizontal 
plane  over  which  it  is  suspended  at  only  one 
point  and,  being  an  arc,  could  at  no  time  be 
parallel  to  that  plane,  whereas  the  head  of  the 
club  during  the  correct  putting  stroke  should 
be  carried  along  a  line  almost  parellel  to  the 
ground  immediately  before  and  after  the  ball 
is  struck.  Thus  it  follows  that  this  simile, 
like  so  many  others,  is  fallacious  when  ap- 
plied too  exactly;  it  serves  better  in  convey- 
ing to  the  mind  the  idea  of  smooth  and  even 
motion,  which  is  necessary  to  the  proper  ex- 


• 


MRS.  J.  E.  DAVIES 
Finish  of  an  approach  shot. 


MRS.  RONALD  H.  BARLOW 
A  good  tee  shot. 


Putting  51 

ecution  of  the  put,  than  in  giving  a  true  pic- 
ture of  the  stroke  itself. 

The  factor  of  prime  importance  is  that  the 
club  should  travel  along  the  intended  line  of 
run  of  the  ball,  and  that  line  projected,  both 
before  and  after  the  ball  is  hit.  The  hands 
should  hold  the  club  firmly  yet  delicately,  the 
body  should  be  kept  motionless,  and  the  eyes 
should  be  fixed  upon  that  portion  of  the  ball 
which  is  furthest  from  the  hole.  The  head 
of  the  club  should  be  drawn  back  near  the 
ground  for  several  inches,  the  arms  should 
be  steady,  and  the  wrists  allowed  to  do  most 
of  the  work.  If  the  put  is  a  long  one,  so  that 
there  must  be  an  extended  backward  swing, 
the  forearms  must  come  further  into  play 
during  the  movement  of  the  wrists.  It  is  ob- 
vious that  the  put  cannot  be,  as  Vardon  as- 
serts, purely  a  wrist  stroke,  because  if  it  were 
the  club  would  rise  into  the  air  immediately 
after  it  leaves  the  ball,  or,  if  the  arc  of  the 
club's  head  should  be  in  a  plane  more  nearly 
parallel  to  the  ground,  the  club,  after  having 


52  Golf  for  Women 

retreated  a  short  distance  from  the  ball,  would 
begin  drawing  in  toward  the  body.  Plainly 
the  forearm  must  be  used  if  the  club  head  is  to 
be  kept  in  a  straight  line,  both  during  the 
backward  swing  if  it  is  a  long  one,  and  es- 
pecially during  the  follow-through,  when  the 
arms  must  go  out  after  the  ball  and  the  club 
head  keep  in  the  line  to  the  hole  as  long  as 
possible.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  by  this  that 
the  putting  stroke  is  in  any  way  an  arm  mo- 
tion. Accuracy  and  steadiness  are  gained 
by  keeping  the  arms  as  still  as  possible;  the 
wrists  should  be  used  first,  then  as  much  fore- 
arm as  is  necessary  to  keep  the  club  head  in 
a  straight  line,  and,  last  of  all,  and  this  only 
in  case  of  an  exceedingly  long  put,  the  upper 
arms  may  come  slightly  into  action.  To  be- 
gin a  put  with  the  idea  in  her  mind  that  every 
part  of  the  body  must  be  kept  rigid  but  the 
hands  and  wrists,  means  that  the  player  will 
be  cramped  and  awkward.  It  is  better  to 
start  with  body  comfortably  disposed  and 
quiet  and  then  to  make  the  stroke  with  only 
such  motions  as  are  natural  and  necessary. 


Putting  53 

Contrary  to  what  a  great  many  expert 
players  say  when  writing,  George  Duncan  in 
his  article  on  putting  for  women  in  "Golf 
Illustrated^"  does  not  speak  of  the  put  as  a 
pure  wrist  stroke.  In  fact,  from  what  he 
says  it  seems  that  he  considers  it,  especially 
in  long  shots,  almost  entirely  an  arm  stroke. 
Let  us  see  what  he  says.  "For  approach 
putting  I  advise  the  following  methods  to  be 
adopted.  .  .  .  The  club  should  be  taken  back 
with  the  left  hand  and  arm,  and  the  club  head 
must  be  kept  as  close  to  the  ground  as  pos- 
sible. The  right  wrist  must  not  be  allowed 
to  bend.  The  player  will  now  hit  naturally, 
follow  through,  and  finish  with  the  hands  in 
a  line  with  the  club  head." 

It  seems  extremely  doubtful  that,  if  the 
right  wrist  is  not  allowed  to  bend,  the  player 
can  hit  naturally;  certainly  she  must  hit  ex- 
tremely awkwardly,  and  with  her  whole  arm 
from  the  shoulder  down.  Duncan's  idea  ap- 
pears to  be  that  the  left  hand  and  arm  shall 
do  the  putting  and  that  the  right  shall  act  as  a 
check  or  brace  to  keep  the  club  head  in  a 


54  Golf  for  Women 

straight  line.  The  fact  that  such  an  excellent 
putter  as  George  Duncan  could  formulate 
such  a  theory  led  me  to  examine  the  photo- 
graphs of  him  in  Mr.  P.  A.  Vaile's  "Modern 
Golf."  In  plate  15,  the  caption  of  which  is 
"swing  back  for  approach  put,"  we  have  a 
frontal  view  of  Duncan,  and  it  may  plainly  be 
seen  that  his  right  wrist  is  bent  back  so  much 
that  the  back  of  his  hand  is  almost  at  a  right 
angle  to  his  arm.  Possibly  he  thinks  it  best 
to  advise  women  to  use  another  method  of 
putting  from  that  which  he  himself  practices, 
but  it  is  difficult  to  understand  why  he  should 
do  so. 

Underneath  this  picture  Mr.  Vaile  has 
written,  "In  this  case,  as  the  put  is  a  long  one, 
the  swing  back  is  considerable,  but  observe 
that  neither  the  forearms  nor  the  body 
have  moved.  This  is  the  secret  of  good 
putting.  .  .  ." 

Notice  that  he  commends  the  fact  that  in 
the  swing  back  for  this  long  approach  put 
the  forearms  have  remained  motionless,  yet  he 
says  on  page  66,  "The  Soul  of  Golf," 


Putting  55 

"We  are  frequently  told  that  a  put  is  the 
only  true  wrist  stroke  in  golf.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  there  is  no  true  wrist  stroke  in  golf, 
for  it  is  evident  that  if  one  played  the  put 
as  a  true  wrist  stroke  with  a  club  whose  lie  is 
at  a  considerable  angle  to  the  horizontal  .  .  . 
the  instant  the  club  head  leaves  the  ball  it 
must  leave  the  line  of  run  to  the  hole,  and 
equally  as  certainly  will  it  leave  the  line  of 
run  to  the  hole  immediately  after  it  has  struck 
the  ball.  Now  this  is  not  what  we  require, 
so  it  has  come  to  pass  that  the  put  at  golf  is 
to  a  very  great  extent  a  compromise." 

So  it  is  that  even  the  best  of  golf  writers 
will  contradict  themselves  and  the  student  of 
the  game  must  make  the  best  of  it  she  can. 

To  return  to  George  Duncan's  article,  a 
little  later  he  says,  "For  puts  inside  three 
yards  one  or  two  alterations  should  be  made. 
The  right  hand  should  do  all  the  work:  the 
left  elbow  should  point  more  at  the  hole :  and 
the  feet  should  be  a  little  closer  together." 

From  this  one  is  led  to  believe  that,  on 
reaching  the  three-yard  limit,  one  should 


56  Golf  for  Women 

abandon  the  left  hand  and  transfer  the  work 
of  putting  to  the  right.  If  one  must  shift 
from  one  hand  to  the  other  in  this  way,  it 
would  seem  more  sensible  to  do  the  long  puts 
with  the  stronger  hand,  which  with  the  ma- 
jority of  people  is  the  right,  and  leave  the 
lighter  work  for  the  left. 


PUTTING  WITH 

In  the  same  article  we  read,  "The  club  head 
should  not  come  back  so  close  to  the  ground: 
it  should  come  back  more  abruptly,  so  that 
the  player  can  hit  slightly  down  on  the  ball 
(which  should  bite  the  turf  a  little)." 

This  admonition  of  Duncan's  to  "Hit 
slightly  down  on  the  ball"  would  result,  if 
followed,  in  "drag"  or  "back-spin."  Many 
players  advocate  "drag"  in  putting  on  the 
theory  that  a  ball  with  back-spin  keeps  to  the 
ground  closely  and  is  not  apt  to  rim  the  cup. 
That  is,  in  general,  the  explanation  they  give 
for  advocating  this  style  of  putting.  State- 
ments to  that  effect  are  so  numerous  and  so 
familiar  that  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  quote 


Putting  57 

them.  They  all  have  this  fundamental  mis- 
take: a  ball  with  back-spin  has  a  tendency  to 
rise  and  it  is  the  ball  with  "top"  that  clings 
to  the  ground.  If  one  thinks  for  an  instant 
of  a  drive  that  has  been  under-cut  and  remem- 
bers how  the  ball  rose  in  the  air  and  abruptly 
fell  again,  then  recollects  how  a  "topped" 
drive  resulted  in  the  ball's  jumping  from  tee 
to  earth,  there  to  roll  a  little  way  to  its  in- 
glorious end,  one  will  readily  comprehend 
that  the  inclination  of  the  ball  on  the 
green  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  ball  in 
the  air. 

"Drag"  is  obtained  either  by  hitting  down 
on  the  ball,  or  hitting  it  below  its  center,  or 
by  using  a  putter  that  is  heavily  weighted  on 
its  lower  edge.  "Top"  is  obtained  by  hitting 
the  ball  when  the  club  is  on  the  rise,  or  by 
striking  the  ball  at  a  point  above  its  center. 
A  ball  played  with  "drag"  will  be  under  the 
influence  of  two  contending  forces,  the  back- 
spin  that  has  been  placed  upon  it  and  its  own 
natural  forward  roll.  As  a  result  of  this  con- 
flict of  forces  the  ball  "skids"  along  until  the 


58  Golf  for  Women 

back-spin  is  beaten  and  it  may  then  proceed 
in  its  regular  way. 

On  account  of  the  friction  of  the  grass  a 
ball  cannot  hold  its  backward  rotation  long, 
so,  unless  the  put  is  a  very  short  one,  the  ball 
is  rolling  forward  by  the  time  it  reaches  the 
hole.  It  is  seldom,  therefore,  that  when  it 
arrives  at  the  hole,  a  ball  really  has  the  back- 
spin  that  is  going  *to  insure  its  dropping  in 
neatly.  The  question  that  arises  is,  why 
try  to  put  with  "drag"  if  the  "drag"  won't 
last  all  the  way  to  the  hole?  Or,  in  case  of 
a  short  put,  why  resort  to  an  unnatural 
method  when  the  natural  one  should  be  per- 
fectly easy? 

I  believe  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  rea- 
son so  many  players,  especially  men,  favor 
imparting  back-spin  to  the  ball  is  psycho- 
logical. All  through  the  fairway  they  have 
been  making  shots  that  required  a  certain 
amount  of  physical  force.  On  arriving  at 
the  green  the  problem  is  changed,  roughly 
speaking,  from  that  of  distance  to  aim,  from 
strength  to  delicacy  of  touch.  The  mental 


Putting  59 

readjustment  is  difficult.  The  put  played 
with  "drag"  may  be  hit  much  harder  than  one 
without  it,  consequently  the  player  favors 
this  method  because,  unconsciously,  he  has 
more  faith  in  himself  while  delivering  a  fairly 
strong  blow  than  he  has  while  making  a  gentle 
swing  at  the  ball.  As  having  confidence  in 
oneself  is  the  greatest  possible  help  in  putting, 
gaining  this  advantage  may  be  sufficient  ex- 
cuse for  advocating  the  put  with  back-spin. 
Except  on  some  such  ground,  however,  there 
is  no  reason  why  it  should  be  considered  su- 
perior to  a  regularly  rolled  up  put. 

I  would  certainly  not  advise  women  play- 
ers to  cultivate  this  way  of  getting  the  ball 
to  the  hole.  A  firmly  hit  blow,  with  the  cen- 
ter of  the  club  face  meeting  the  portion  of 
the  ball  that  is  farthest  from  the  hole,  and 
a  clean  follow-through,  is  the  safest  and  sanest 
method  of  putting.  It  is  far  better  for  a 
player  to  master  this  simple  and  natural 
stroke  so  that  it  is  completely  at  her  com- 
mand than  to  be  led  away  by  the  factitious 
advantages  of  backward  rotation.  At  best, 


60  Golf  for  Women 

the  putting  stroke  is  difficult  to  perfect  in 
spite  of  its  apparent  simplicity.  Possibly  in 
its  very  simplicity  lies  the  explanation  of  why 
it  is  not  easy  to  accomplish.  To  aim  straight, 
to  hit  the  ball  with  the  center  of  the  face  of 
the  club,  to  carry  the  club  head  in  the  line 
from  hole  to  ball  as  far  as  possible,  to  use 
the  proper  amount  of  force — there  is  noth- 
ing complicated  about  any  of  these  acts;  yet 
consistently .  to  make  what  might  be  called 
thoroughly  harmonious  puts  requires  an  in- 
finite amount  of  patience  and  practice. 

THE   LENGTH   OF  THE   BACK-SWING 

The  problem  of  gauging  the  force  of  the 
blow  by  the  length  of  the  backward  swing  is 
in  itself  a  difficult  one.  The  longer  the  put 
the  longer  the  swing  is  practically  axiomatic 
in  golf,  but  facility  in  carrying  this  into  effect 
is  not  easy  to  acquire.  It  is  generally  agreed 
that  one  should  not  rely  on  "muscular  mem- 
ory" in  putting,  and  it  is,  therefore,  with 
some  amazement  that  one  reads  in  Mrs. 
Ross's  (formerly  Miss  May  Hezlet)  contri- 


MISS  MARION  ROLLINS 
Finish  of  a  long  drive. 


Putting  61 

bution  to  "The  New  Book  of  Golf,"  page 
303,  the  following  statement: 

4 'The  club  head  is  taken  back  some  distance 
even  for  short  putts,  and  the  length  of  the 
shot  is  regulated  by  the  force  with  which  the 
club  is  brought  forward  again.  A  putting 
stroke  in  this  way  differs  from  all  other 
strokes  in  golf,  as  in  driving  and  iron  play 
the  length  of  the  shot  is  regulated  by  the  dis- 
tance back  the  club  is  taken,  not  by  the  pace 
of  the  swing." 

If,  as  Mrs.  Ross  advises,  the  club  head  is 
taken  back  some  distance  for  a  short  put  it 
is  certain  that  the  descending  swing  must 
be  very  slow  and  gentle  so  that  the  ball  shall 
not  run  too  far.  It  is  also  certain  that  a  slow 
and  cautious  swing  will  soon  degenerate  into 
a  loose  and  wobbly  one,  and  that  proper  con- 
trol of  the  club  and  the  ball  will  be  gone. 
There  is  no  reason  why  the  putting  stroke 
should  differ  in  this  respect  from  all  other 
strokes  in  golf.  The  underlying  principle  is 
the  same  whether  one  has  a  driver  or  a  putter 
in  one's  hand. 


62  Golf  for  Women 

The  judgment  that  is  required  to  estimate 
correctly  the  amount  of  force  necessary  to 
carry  a  ball  a  certain  distance  comes  only  with 
long  practice.  It  is  essential  not  only  that 
the  distance  be  gauged,  but  also  that  the  con- 
dition of  the  turf  and  level  of  the  green 
be  taken  into  consideration.  The  one  warn- 
ing that  can  be  sounded  is:  "Always  be  up." 
If  the  ball  is  "up"  or  overruns  the  hole,  it 
has  a  chance  of  dropping  in,  but  a  ball  that  is 
"short"  is  doomed  from  the  beginning. 
Women,  especially,  are  inclined  to  be  over  cau- 
tious in  putting,  and  their  fault  is  rather 
being  too  gentle  than  too  strong.  This  is  a 
failing  that  must  resolutely  be  overcome  at 
the  very  beginning.  Firmness  and  deter- 
mination are  qualities  that  must  be  cultivated 
constantly  by  any  woman  who  aspires  to  be- 
come a  good  putter.  If  a  player  finds  that 
she  is  consistently  falling  short  of  the  hole,  it 
is  a  good  plan  to  aim  the  ball  at  the  farther 
side  of  the  cup,  or  to  a  point  six  inches  or  so 
beyond. 


Putting  63 

SLOPING  GREENS 

The  foregoing  remarks  in  this  chapter  have 
been  made  on  the  supposition  that  the  green 
on  which  the  player  finds  herself  is  level,  and 
that  the  ball  may  be  aimed  straight  at  the 
hole.  Sadly  enough  all  greens  are  not  laid 
out  in  this  convenient  way,  and  one  finds  one- 
self confronted  by  hills  and  dales,  hummocks 
and  arenas,  that  are  none  the  less  terrifying 
on  account  of  their  being  miniatures.  It  is 
not  possible  for  one  person  to  give  another 
any  satisfactory  instruction  how  to  surmount 
these  difficulties.  Each  player  must  meet  the 
problem  as  it  presents  itself  to  her  and  solve 
it  to  the  best  of  her  ability.  Her  natural  in- 
stinct and  the  judgment  gained  by  experience 
are  her  best  guides,  and  any  advice  given  by 
another  person  must  be  entirely  inadequate 
as  it  is  impossible  to  cover  a  fraction  of  the 
situations  that  may  arise.  In  general  it  may 
be  said  that  it  is  better  to  allow  too  much,  both 
as  to  length  and  direction,  than  too  little,  but 
beyond  that  any  remarks  are  apt  to  be  inade- 


64  Golf  for  Women 

quate  to  cover  the  many  situations  that  may 
arise. 

It  might  seem  that  a  chapter  on  putting 
would  not  be  complete  without  some  com- 
ment on  playing  stymies.  As  I  have  said 
before,  it  is  my  purpose  to  take  up  the  vari- 
ous factors  in  the  game  of  golf  as  they  pre- 
sent themselves  to  the  beginner.  The  play- 
ing of  stymies  is  a  difficult  undertaking  and 
should  not  be  attempted  until  one  has  mas- 
tered the  more  usual  strokes  of  the  game. 
We  may,  therefore,  well  leave  stymies  alone, 
and  be  content  for  the  present  with  getting 
the  ball  into  the  hole  when  its  course  is  un- 
obstructed. 


Ill 

APPROACH   SHOTS 

ESTIMATING  roughly,  those  shots 
that  are  made  from  any  spot  within 
one  hundred  and  twenty  yards  of  the 
green  may  be  called  approach  shots.  A  well- 
directed  stroke  with  the  brassie  from,  say,  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  yards  from  the  pin, 
may  deliver  the  ball  upon  the  green,  but,  in 
such  a  fortunate  circumstance,  the  player  has 
not  in  reality  made  an  approach  shot;  she 
has  luckily  or  skillfully  eliminated  the  neces- 
sity of  making  one. 

There  is  no  more  exasperating  shot  in  the 
game  of  golf  than  the  very  short  approach. 
When  the  ball  lies  within  ten  or  fifteen  yards 
of  the  green  it  would  seem  that  almost  any 
player  could  get  it  not  only  on  the  green  but 
also  within  easy  putting  distance  of  the  hole. 
That  such  a  feat  is  not  nearly  so  easy  as  it 

65 


66  Golf  for  Women 

appears,  even  experienced  players  will  testify. 
With  the  possible  exception  of  the  short  put, 
there  is  no  shot  in  the  game  of  golf  so  easy  to 
miss  as  the  short  approach.  The  fact,  that, 
on  the  whole,  women  are  much  more  inac- 
curate in  playing  this  stroke  than  men  proves 
again  to  us  that  lack  of  strength  is  not 
women's  greatest  handicap,  but  that  her  be- 
setting sin  is  lack  of  firmness  and  exactness. 
From  observation  of  the  average  woman 
golfer,  I  should  say  that,  in  playing  these  del- 
icate and  difficult  approach  shots,  her  great- 
est fault  lies  in  making  a  too  extended  back- 
ward swing.  As  in  putting,  the  length  of 
the  swing  should  be  determined  by  the  dis- 
tance of  the  ball  from  the  hole.  When  a 
player  carries  her  club  back  too  far  she  must 
bring  it  forward  very  gently  in  order  to  avoid 
overrunning  the  green,  and  this  enforced 
gentleness  invariably  becomes  looseness  and 
uncertainty.  Approach  shots  must  be  made 
with  great  firmness  and  decision  or  the  player 
loses  all  control  of  the  ball.  Like  everything 
else  in  golf,  the  attainment  of  even  a  fair 


Approach  Shots  67 

amount  of  accuracy  comes  only  after  much 
practice,  but  the  woman  who  has  carefully 
built  up  her  short  game  will  find  herself 
amply  rewarded  for  her  trouble.     The  feel- 
ing of  satisfaction  that  comes  from  seeing 
the  ball  rise  in  the  air,  soar  over  a  bunker 
and  drop  dead  within  a  few  feet  of  the  pin  is 
greater,  I  believe,  than  that  which  follows 
a  long  and  beautiful  drive.     Certainly  the 
fact  that  a  player  has  such  a  shot  at  her  com- 
mand is  a  better  guarantee  of  a  low  score  than 
the  fact  that  she  can  drive  a  long  ball.     Too 
much  importance  cannot  be  placed  on  the 
necessity   of   playing   a   good   short   game. 
There  is  nothing  more  disheartening  than  to 
arrive  within  twenty  yards  of  the  green,  after 
having  made  a  fine  drive  and  good  brassie 
shot,  and  then  to  fall  short  of  the  green  by  a 
miserable  approach  shot.     The  likelihood  of 
making  the  hole  in  four  is  gone  and  it  is  more 
than  probable  that,  in  such  a  situation,  the 
player  will  take  two  puts  and  hole  out  in 
six.     It  is  on  and  about  the  green  that  strokes 
are  mercilessly  added  to  the  player's  score, 


68  Golf  -for  Women 

and  it  is  for  that  reason  that  the  short  game 
is  the  test  that  differentiates  the  expert  player 
from  the  ordinary  performer. 

Approach  shots  may  be  divided  into  three 
classes:  the  run-up;  the  pitch-and-run;  and 
the  pure  pitch.     I  have  used  the  terms  "run- 
up,"   "pitch-and-run,"    and    "pure    pitch," 
rather   arbitrarily.     Unfortunately   the   ter- 
minology of  golf  is  somewhat  deficient  in 
clearness.     Writers  of  golf  books  and  articles 
frequently  ascribe  to  a  word  or  an  expression 
quite  different  meanings,  and  from  this  lack 
of  uniformity  arises  a  certain  confusion  in  the 
reader's  mind.     In  order  that  there  shall  be 
no  misapprehension  in  this  case  I  should,  per- 
haps, define  what  I  mean  by  the  terms  that 
I  have  adopted.     According  to  my  classifica- 
tion of  these  shots  a  "run-up"  approach  is 
one  during  which  the  ball  is  not  intended  to 
leave  the  ground;  a  "pitch-and-run"  is  one 
which  combines  the  ball's  flight  through  the 
air  with  a  calculated  run;  and  a  "pure  pitch" 
is  one  in  which  the  ball  rises  into  the  air  and 
drops  with  as  little  run  as  possible. 


Approach  Shots  69 

Which  of  these  shots  the  player  shall  em- 
ploy must  be  decided  by  her  own  judgment. 
The  factors  to  be  taken  into  consideration  are 
the  distance  to  be  covered,  the  character  and 
condition  of  the  ground  over  which  the  ball 
must  travel,  the  peculiarities  of  the  green, 
and  the  presence  or  absence  of  wind.  There 
can  be  no  hard  and  fast  rule  laid  down  on 
this  subject  because  there  are  so  many  condi- 
tions that  must  be  taken  into  account.  The 
goal  to  be  striven  for  is  that  the  player  shall 
have  all  three  shots  absolutely  at  her  command 
and  use  the  one  that  seems  best  in  the  circum- 
stance in  which  she  finds  herself. 

The  clubs  that  are  used  for  these  shots  are 
many  and  various.  Beginning  with  the  put- 
ter, they  proceed  through  all  the  degrees  of 
slope-back  and  weight  until  the  extreme  is 
reached  in  the  niblick.  The  club  most  fre- 
quently used  is  the  mashie  in  one  or  another 
of  its  numerous  styles.  The  putter,  the  jig- 
ger, the  cleek,  the  light  mid-iron  and  the 
niblick  all  have  their  places  and  their  uses, 
so  it  depends  greatly  upon  the  individual 


70  Golf  for  Women 

player  to  decide  which  club  meets  her  re- 
quirements best  and  with  which  she  can  do 
the  most  effective  work.  If  the  ball  lies  a 
few  yards  off  the  green,  and  the  turf  before 
it  is  smooth  and  even,  the  player  may  take  her 
putter  and  treat  the  situation  as  though  she 
were  running  down  a  long  put.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  ball  has  a  bad  lie,  must  cross 
a  bunker,  or  must  rise  abruptly  to  a  plateau 
green,  it  is  very  probable  that  the  niblick  is 
the  club  that  she  will  select  to  help  her  out  of 
the  difficulty.  The  important  point  is  that 
she  shall  know  the  possibilities  of  each  club 
and  use  the  one  that  is  best  adapted  to  the 
work  at  hand.  Too  much  cannot  be  said  in 
urging  the  necessity  of  knowing  at  all  times 
exactly  what  to  expect  of  each  club,  and  espe- 
cially when  an  approach  shot  is  to  be  made. 
If  the  ground  is  examined  carefully,  the  kind 
of  shot  determined,  and  the  club  selected 
wisely,  then  the  difficulties  of  approaching  are 
well  on  their  way  to  solution. 

The  question  of  whether  the  running-up 
style  of  shot  or  the  pitch  shot  shall  be  used 


MISS  CECIL  LEITH 
A  fine  follow-through. 


Approach  Shots  71 

must  be  left  to  individual  decision.  No  really 
good  player  invariably  uses  either  the  one  or 
the  other,  but,  given  a  situation  where  legiti- 
mate reasons  for  using  either  one  can  be 
urged,  some  players  will  invariably  favor  the 
run-up  and  others  the  pitch,  according  to  their 
personal  predilection.  The  wisest  plan  is  to 
be  master  of  both  but  slave  to  neither.  Pos- 
sibly a  player  is  unconsciously  prejudiced  in 
favor  of  the  stroke  that  she  can  manage  best 
and  in  doing  which  she  feels  most  confidence 
in  herself.  However  that  may  be,  it  is  in- 
teresting to  observe  that  Braid  is  very  seri- 
ous in  urging  that  the  run-up  or  pitch-and- 
run  should  be  employed  in  all  cases  except 
where  it  is  manifestly  impossible,  and  that 
Vardon  and  Taylor,  with  almost  equal  vigor, 
maintain  that  the  pitch  shot  should  be  used 
except  in  such  cases  where  it  is  obviously  im- 
practicable to  use  anything  but  the  run-up  or 
pitch-and-run.  Having  considered  the  gen- 
eral aspects  of  these  two  strokes,  let  us  pro- 
ceed to  the  study  of  the  principles  that  under- 
lie the  execution  of  each  one. 


72  Golf  for  Women 

THE  PITCH  SHOT 

If  the  player  has  adopted  the  modified  ov- 
erlapping grip,  or  if  she  is  using  the  Vardon 
grip,  she  will  find  that  no  change  is  neces- 
sary for  the  approach  shot  from  that  which 
she  used  while  putting.  For  the  shorter  shots 
she  will  naturally  slide  her  hands  down  the 
leather  grip  of  her  club  in  order  to  keep  con- 
trol of  the  club  during  the  abbreviated  swing, 
just  as  she  did  while  on  the  green.  The  posi- 
tion of  the  body  should  be  somewhat  stooped 
with  the  knees  bent  a  little,  and  she  should 
stand  fairly  close  to  the  ball.  It  is  a  gen- 
eral principle  that,  in  the  shorter  shots,  the 
player  should  "get  down  to  the  ball"  more 
than  in  the  longer  shots  where  a  full  or  three- 
quarter  swing  is  used.  The  arms  should  be 
kept  close  to  the  sides  and  the  hands  held  low. 
The  stance  should  be  fairly  open,  with  the 
left  foot  pointing  toward  the  hole,  but  the 
actual  arrangement  of  the  feet  is,  within 
certain  limitations,  not  so  important  as  the 
fact  that  the  player  must  be  firmly  settled. 


Approach  Shots  73 

Although  the  body  bends  forward  there  must 
be  no  sensation  of  tipping  forward  on  one's 
toes,  in  fact  the  forward  pull  of  the  body  must 
be  counter-balanced  by  the  weight  being 
adjusted  evenly  along  the  soles.  During  a 
short  swing  the  left  heel  should  not  leave  the 
ground,  and  even  when  a  three-quarter  swing 
is  made  the  heel  should  be  no  more  than  loos- 
ened from  its  position  in  the  turf.  The  ob- 
ject to  be  attained  is  that  the  body  shall  be 
kept  steady,  and  that  there  should  be  no  pos- 
sible suggestion  of  swaying  from  side  to  side. 
In  making  the  pitch  shot  the  ball  must  be 
raised  in  the  air  and,  if  possible,  back-spin 
must  be  put  upon  it,  so  that  when  it  drops  to 
the  ground  it  will  not  run  forward  but  will 
stay  where  it  falls  as  closely  as  possible. 
Either  a  mashie  or  niblick  may  be  used,  de- 
pending upon  the  distance  to  be  covered  and 
the  sharpness  of  the  curve  that  must  be  de- 
scribed by  the  ball's  flight.  There  is  a  club 
called  the  mashie-niblick  that  finds  favor  with 
some  players,  as  it  combines  the  sharp  lower 
edge  of  the  niblick  with  the  weight  and  gen- 


74  Golf  for  Women 

eral  formation  of  the  mashie.  It  is  possible 
to  do  very  good  work  with  this  club  as  its 
thin  edge  allows  it  to  cut  clean  under  the  ball, 
and  thereby  impart  considerable  back-spin 
without  raising  it  in  the  air  as  abruptly  as 
would  a  stroke  made  with  a  regular  niblick. 
The  choice  of  clubs,  however,  must  be  left 
to  the  player's  own  preference  and  judgment. 
Such  a  variety  of  situations  arises  in  making 
approach  shots  that  it  would  not  be  practi- 
cal to  try  to  cover  them  all  in  making  sug- 
gestions as  to  the  use  of  different  clubs. 

In  making  all  approach  shots  the  player 
should  act  very  deliberately.  There  must  be 
nothing  hasty  or  impulsive  in  her  movements, 
and  nothing  that  might  suggest  banging  at 
the  ball.  As  calculation  of  distance  and  of 
the  ball's  trajectory  are  necessary,  the  stroke 
must  be  accomplished  by  careful  thought  and 
execution.  Some  players  go  so  far  as  to  say 
that  there  should  be  a  slight  but  perceptible 
pause  at  the  top  of  the  swing.  I  believe, 
however,  that  it  is  unsafe  to  try  consciously 
for  this ;  the  idea  of  having  to  pause  may  very 


Approach  Shots  75 

easily  result  in  a  momentary  relaxation  of  the 
muscles  that  would  cause  the  stroke  to  be  wob- 
bly and  uncertain.  The  better  idea  is  to  play 
only  just  so  slowly  as  is  entirely  compatible 
with  firmness  and  decision. 

The  ball  should  be  nearly  in  line  with  the 
left  heel,  and  the  weight  of  the  body  should 
be  mainly  on  the  right  leg.  The  club  should 
be  drawn  back  from  the  ball  with  an  upright 
swing,  the  length  of  which  should  be  deter- 
mined, of  course,  by  the  distance  the  ball  must 
travel.  The  stroke  must  be  firm  and  decisive, 
and  the  follow-through  upright  and  snappy. 
This  snappy  finish  must  not  be  tried  for  by 
any  conscious  motion.  It  is  gained  auto- 
matically. It  is  the  upright  swing  and  fol- 
low-through, combined  with  the  loft  of  the 
club's  face,  that  cause  the  ball  to  rise  in  the 
air.  The  club  and  the  manner  of  the  stroke, 
together,  are  planned  to  lif t  the  ball.  There 
must  be  no  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  player 
to  scoop  up  the  ball  or  to  urge  it  upward  by 
lifting  the  body  or  hands. 

A  mashie  shot  played  in  the  fashion  just 


76  Golf  for  Women 

described  will  have  very  little  forward  run, 
but  to  insure  the  ball's  stopping  dead  where 
it  falls  (except  for  the  kick  which  cannot  be 
avoided  unless  the  green  is  extremely  heavy) 
a  mashie  shot  with  cut  is  employed.  This 
shot  is  difficult  and  requires  much  practice, 
but  it  must  be  mastered  by  any  player  who 
wishes  to  be  expert.  The  difference  in  play- 
ing this  and  the  straight  mashie  shot  lies  in 
the  fact  that  the  club  head  in  the  backward 
swing,  instead  of  being  drawn  back  in  the  line 
between  hole  and  ball  produced,  is  carried 
outside  that  line.  It  follows  that  as  the  club 
is  brought  down  the  club  head  will  meet  the 
ball  with  a  glancing  blow,  and  will  give  it,  not 
pure  back-spin,  but  a  rotary  motion  that  is 
off  the  true  perpendicular  to  the  ball's  line 
of  flight.  This  cut  stroke  is  very  much  like 
the  sliced  drive  and  has  the  same  tendency 
to  swerve  to  the  right.  To  counteract  this 
tendency,  especially  if  there  happens  to  be  a 
wind  blowing  from  the  left,  the  player  must 
aim  her  ball  to  the  left  of  the  hole. 

Vardon  says,  "How  to  Play  Golf,"  page 


Approach  Shots  77 

145,  "From  the  nature  of  the  upward  swing, 
the  club  is  necessarily  coming  down  across 
the  ball,  but  everything  should  be  done  to  ac- 
centuate that  effect.  Do  not  be  afraid  to 
make  a  distinct  attempt  to  draw  the  mashie 
sharply  and  clearly  across  the  ball  at  the  in- 
stant when  the  two  come  into  contact." 

Possibly  Vardon,  after  his  many  years  of 
golf  experience,  is  able  to  see  the  instant  the 
club  head  hits  the  ball  and  can  think  quickly 
enough  to  draw  the  club  inward  during  that 
fraction  of  a  second,  but  it  is  extremely  doubt- 
ful whether  the  average  player  has  such  in- 
stantaneous control  of  her  faculties.  If  she 
has  not,  it  would  be  very  unwise  for  her  to 
attempt  an  action  that  must  be  done  at  such 
lightning  speed.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  to 
make  a  sudden  movement  at  the  last  instant 
is  sure  to  spoil  the  shot  completely.  If  the 
backward  and  forward  swing  and  follow- 
through  are  in  the  line  already  described, 
across  the  line  of  the  ball's  intended  flight, 
and  the  stroke  is  made  with  sharpness  and  de- 
cision, and  the  ball  hit  truly,  then  the  desired 


78  Golf  for  Women 

cut  will  be  accomplished.  It  is  certainly  dif- 
ficult enough  to  do  all  of  this  without  adding 
to  one's  mind  the  totally  unnecessary  burden 
of  doing  something  more  the  instant  the  ball 
is  hit. 

The  average  player  is  generally  happy 
enough  if  she  finds  that  her  ball  has  come  to 
rest  on  the  green  without  cavilling  at  the  par- 
ticular portion  of  the  green  it  has  chosen  to 
occupy.  It  is  only  the  expert  who  can,  with 
any  degree  of  consistency,  lay  the  ball  within 
a  short  distance  of  the  hole.  The  fact  that 
she  cannot  accomplish  a  thing,  however,  does 
not  relieve  the  player  of  the  responsibility  of 
trying  for  it,  so  it  is  well,  early  in  one's  ca- 
reer, to  form  the  habit  of  picking  out  the  most 
advantageous  portion  of  the  green  for  the 
ball  to  occupy,  and  to  aim  for  that.  It  is  by 
no  means  the  proper  play  always  to  aim  for 
the  pin,  in  fact  it  may  happen  that  it  is  not 
wise  to  aim  for  the  green  at  all  but,  perhaps, 
for  example,  a  steep  bank  that  rises  beyond 
it.  The  characteristics  of  the  green  itself  and 
of  the  ground  immediately  surrounding  it, 


Approach  Shots  79 

must  be  carefully  considered,  and  the  shot  di- 
rected in  such  a  way  that  it  will  benefit  by  any 
peculiarity  that  is  advantageous  and  will  avoid 
any  that  will  bring  trouble.  There  is  even 
more  necessity  for  this  caution  in  a  run-up 
shot  than  in  a  pitch  shot,  because,  when  the 
ball  travels  on  the  ground  it  is,  naturally, 
more  subject  to  disaster  from  any  irregular- 
ity in  the  ground's  conformation. 

THE  RUN-UP   AND   PITCH- AND-RUN   SHOTS 

There  are  not  many  occasions  when  a  player 
will  use  the  pure  run-up  shot.  As  its  name 
indicates,  such  a  shot  causes  the  ball  to  make 
its  journey  entirely  by  running  over  the 
ground.  It  is,  then,  practically  an  extended 
put,  and  is  admissible  only  when  the  ground 
to  be  traversed  is  smooth  and  free  from  ob- 
struction that  will  divert  the  course  of  the 
ball's  run.  A  putter  is  frequently  used  for 
this  shot  although  many  players  prefer  a  light 
iron.  If  a  club  with  a  lofted  face  is  selected 
the  player  takes  her  stance  so  that  the  ball 
is  nearer  the  right  foot  than  the  left,  and  the 


80  Golf  for  Women 

hands  are  held  in  advance  of  the  club  head 
so  that  the  plane  of  the  club's  face  is  perpen- 
dicular to  the  ground.  This  arrangement  has 
the  effect  of  holding  the  ball  to  the  turf. 

For  the  pitch- and-run  shot  there  are  so 
many  different  kinds  of  clubs  used  that  the 
question  of  choice  of  club  seems  to  come  down 
to  the  preference  of  the  individual  player. 
Braid  uses  an  approaching  cleek  which  he  says 
he  finds  invaluable,  both  because  its  face  has 
very  little  loft  and  because  it  is  weighted 
along  the  back  through  that  portion  that  is 
directly  opposite  where  the  club-head  meets 
the  ball.  Vardon  describes  his  favorite  club 
for  this  purpose  as  a  straight-faced  mashie. 
He  says  it  is  a  mongrel  club,  but  one  that 
serves  him  exactly.  However,  some  style  of 
cleek,  mashie,  or  iron  having  been  selected, 
the  method  of  playing  the  stroke  remains  un- 
changed. 

As  the  object  now  is  to  raise  the  ball  very 
little  and  to  send  it  on  its  way  with  a  low  skim- 
ming flight  followed  by  considerable  run  when 
it  strikes  the  ground,  the  upright  swing  of  the 


MRS.  LILIAN  HYDE  FEITNER 
Playing  from  a  bad  lie. 


MISS  K.  HARLEY 
Finish  of  a  brassie  shot  through  the  fairway. 


Approach  Shots  81 

pitch  shot  is  abandoned  and  a  flatter  swing  is 
adopted  that  will  keep  the  ball  close  to  the 
ground.  Not  only  is  the  style  of  swing 
changed  but  the  position  of  the  player  in  re- 
lation to  the  ball  is  shifted.  Instead  of  stand- 
ing so  that  the  ball  is  near  the  left  foot,  the 
player  advances  so  that  the  ball  is  nearly  op- 
posite the  right  heel.  The  feet  are  the  dis- 
tance apart  that  will  give  the  player  the  feel- 
ing of  the  greatest  firmness,  and  the  left  toe  is 
pointing  in  the  direction  that  the  ball  is  to  go. 
The  hands  are  kept  low  and  are  a  little  for- 
ward of  the  ball.  Great  care  must  be  taken 
that  the  ball  is  addressed  accurately,  as  it  is 
of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  ball  be  hit 
cleanly  and  truly.  The  club-head  is  carried 
back  through  a  flattened  arc  as  far  as  the  dis- 
tance to  be  covered  by  the  ball  warrants.  The 
descending  swing  is  made  firmly,  with  the 
head  and  body  steady,  and  the  eyes  never  for 
an  instant  leaving  the  ball  until  after  it  is 
struck.  While  making  approach  shots,  play- 
ers seem  to  be  particularly  prone  to  raise 
their  heads  and  consequently  their  eyes;  this 


82  Golf  for  Women 

failing  is  one  that  must  be  overcome  early  in 
one's  career,  and  relapses  must  be  guarded 
against  at  all  times. 

Like  the  backward  swing,  the  follow- 
through  is  low,  and  the  club  head  is  allowed 
to  go  out  after  the  ball.  The  finish  of  this 
stroke  is  very  important  as  everything  must 
be  done  with  the  idea  of  keeping  the  ball  close 
to  earth. 

Unless  the  shot  is  played  up-hill,  or  against 
a  bank,  or  over  very  smooth  ground,  it  is  very 
difficult  to  calculate  the  distance  the  ball  will 
roll  when  it  arrives  on  the  green.  Frequent- 
ly the  ball  will  seem  to  have  scarcely  enough 
motive  power  to  reach  the  green,  and  the 
player  will  watch  it  anxiously  to  see  whether 
it  is  going  to  stop  too  soon,  when,  suddenly, 
on  reaching  the  hard,  smooth  turf,  it  will  seem 
to  become  imbued  with  new  life,  and  will  go 
bounding  merrily  forward  at  quite  an  unex- 
pected rate  of  speed.  In  this  lies  the  danger 
of  the  pitch-and-run  shot.  To  estimate  the 
amount  of  force  required  to  carry  the  ball 
across  lumps  or  rough  grass  into  the  desired 


Approach  Shots  83 

position  on  the  green,  but  not  across  it,  re- 
quires nice  calculation  that  can  only  be  ac- 
quired after  much  practice.  It  is  simple 
enough  to  understand  what  should  be  done, 
but  the  doing  of  it  is  quite  another  matter. 
This  is  the  secret  of  the  fascination  of  the 
game,  and  what,  instead  of  discouraging  the 
player,  inspires  her  with  ever-renewed  deter- 
mination to  conquer. 


IV 

THE   MID-IRON   AND   CLEEK 

THERE  is  no  club  that  can  be  made  to 
serve  in  so  many  different  situations 
as  the  mid-iron.  Standing  as  it  does 
in  the  middle  of  the  list  of  clubs  it  can  be 
pressed  into  use  as  a  substitute  for  any  club 
from  the  putter  to  the  driver.  Naturally, 
I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  it  will  do  the 
work  of  any  one  club  so  well  as  the  club 
especially  designed  for  the  particular  situa- 
tion at  hand,  but,  if  a  player  were  forced 
to  play  a  complete  round  of  the  course  with 
only  one  club,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  she 
would  select  her  mid-iron  as  the  one  that 
would  best  accommodate  itself  to  the  dif- 
ficulties of  the  game.  The  mid-iron  is  a  sub- 
stantial club  a  little  longer  as  to  shaft  and  less 
lofted  as  to  face  than  the  mashie,  but  not  so 
uncompromisingly  severe  as  the  cleek.  If 

84 


The  Mid-Iron  and  Cleek  85 

one  may  be  allowed  to  ascribe  to  it  human 
qualities,  it  might  be  said  to  have  a  kindly  and 
obliging  disposition  that  endears  it  to  the 
hearts  of  golf  players  as  a  safe  and  reliable 
friend.  It  is  possible  to  put  quite  well  with 
this  club,  if  the  player  holds  her  hands  well 
down  the  shaft,  and  stands  rather  in  advance 
of  the  ball  so  that  the  face  of  the  club  is 
brought  into  an  upright  position;  from  the  tee 
it  will  carry  the  ball  a  respectable  distance 
and,  in  fact,  it  is  occasionally  selected  as  the 
proper  club  when,  for  example,  the  distance 
to  the  hole  is  short  and  the  green  is  in  an 
elevated  position;  through  the  fairway  it  is 
generally  useful,  and,  perhaps,  may  pick  a 
ball  handily  out  of  a  shallow  sand  trap. 

Although  I  have  mentioned  first  what  may 
be  done  with  the  mid-iron  to  show  the  possi- 
bilities that  lie  in  the  club,  it  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  a  player  would  use  it  in  any  un- 
natural way  from  choice.  It  is  only  in  a 
"one-club"  match  that  the  player  could  be 
forced  to  use  the  mid-iron  in  a  bunker,  but, 
as  I  have  said  before,  in  case  the  player  did, 


86  Golf  for  Women 

perchance,  engage  in  one  of  these  rather  ec- 
centric contests,  it  would  be  the  mid-iron  with 
which  she  would  set  forth  to  do  or  die. 

Properly,  the  mid-iron  is  used  in  making 
approach  shots  when  the  distance  is  too  great 
to  be  covered  by  a  mashie  (and  I  may  say  here 
that  it  is  extremely  foolish  to  try  to  force  a 
mashie  beyond  its  natural  capacity) ;  on  the 
fairway  when  the  lie  is  not  good  enough  for 
a  cleek  or  brassie,  or  where  the  ground  rises 
abruptly;  and  in  the  rough  grass,  if  the  ball 
happens  to  be  in  a  particularly  unentangled 
position.  It  is  dangerous  to  believe  that  the 
mid-iron  may  be  used  often  when  the  ball  is 
"in  the  rough."  On  account  of  its  longer 
head  and  less  sloping  face  it  is  far  less  safe 
than  the  mashie  or  niblick,  but,  if  the  ball  hap- 
pens to  lie  in  an  open  space,  it  may  be  used. 
On  account  of  the  greater  distance  that  can 
be  gained  by  using  the  mid-iron  it  is  a  temp- 
tation to  favor  it  in  place  of  the  mashie,  but, 
if  there  is  any  doubt  at  all  in  the  player's 
mind,  it  is  far  better  to  play  safe.  "Play 
safe"  is  a  good  rule  to  follow  in  general,  al- 


The  Mid-Iron  and  Cleek  87 

though  there  are,  of  course,  occasions  in 
match  play  .when  the  player  sees  that  the  win- 
ning or  losing  of  the  hole  depends  on  one  shot, 
and  then  it  is  necessary  to  take  a  risk. 

In  playing  both  iron  and  cleek  shots,  the 
question  that  first  arises  is  where  to  stand  in 
relation  to  the  ball.  I  say  "the  question"  be- 
cause I  believe  that  only  experienced  players 
address  the  ball  with  the  conviction  that  they 
are  standing  in  exactly  the  right  place.  A  be- 
ginner, or  a  woman  who  has  not  become  firmly 
settled  in  her  habits  of  play,  is  inclined  to 
change  her  stance  from  time  to  time  if  her 
shots  are  not  going  well.  When  she  has 
"topped"  the  ball,  she  will  probably  say  to 
herself,  "I.  must  stand  back  of  the  ball  a  lit- 
tle more,"  and  when  she  sends  it  too  high  in 
the  air  she  will  say,  "I  must  move  forward 
and  try  to  keep  the  ball  down."  In  this  way 
she  will  change  from  one  position  to  another 
endeavoring  to  correct  her  faults,  but  with  no 
clear  understanding  of  what  really  causes  her 
bad  strokes.  That  there  is  no  absolutely  fixed 
rule  about  where  to  stand  in  relation  to  the 


88  Golf  -for  Women 

ball  while  making  iron  shots  is  easily  per- 
ceived when  one  reads  what  different  expert 
players  say  on  the  subject.  Taylor,  "Taylor 
on  Golf,"  page  231,  says:  "In  playing  the 
ordinary  stroke  with  the  cleek  the  ball  is  in 
a  position  fairly  equidistant  between  the  two 
feet.  There  is  no  hard  and  fast  rule  in  this 
respect ;  it  is  a  matter  to  be  settled  by  the  in- 
dividual player;  but  the  distance  should,  in 
the  majority  of  instances,  be  as  I  have  just 
stated."  In  speaking  of  the  mid-iron,  page 
233,  he  says:  "In  playing  with  the  iron  the 
stance  is  different  from  that  taken  in  the  case 
of  any  other  club.  The  right  foot  must  be 
advanced,  and  the  left  thrown  back,  with  the 
ball  on  a  line  that  will  be  nearer  the  right  foot 
than  in  the  playing  of  a  stroke  with  the  cleek." 
Vardon,  "How  to  Play  Golf,"  page  122, 
maintains  that:  "For  a  cleek  or  iron  shot,  as 
for  a  stroke  with  a  wooden  club,  the  ball 
should  be  on  a  line  with  a  point  a  few  inches 
inside  the  left  heel."  It  is  hardly  worth  while 
to  give  more  quotations  because  to  do  so  would 
simply  be  repetition  of  the  same  differences. 


The  Mid-Iron  and  Cleek  89 

The  opinions  given  by  the  group  of  players 
who  have  written  books  on  the  subject  of  golf 
seem,  on  this  subject  of  the  relation  of  player 
to  ball,  to  advocate  the  ball  being  nearer  the 
left  heel,  equidistant  between  the  feet,  or 
closer  to  the  right,  according  to  the  manner 
that  each  writer  has  found  the  best.  Prob- 
ably the  reason  for  this  difference  of  opinion 
lies  in  the  fact  that  no  two  human  bodies  carry 
out  the  action  of  swinging  a  club  and  hitting 
a  ball  in  exactly  the  same  way.  The  ball  is 
a  fixed  object,  lying  quite  still  upon  the  turf 
until  it  is  struck;  the  player,  therefore,  must 
take  her  position  opposite  the  ball  in  such  a 
way  that,  allowing  for  her  personal  peculiari- 
ties of  movement,  she  will  hit  it  squarely  and 
cleanly.  It  is  easy  to  concede  that  what 
would  be  the  best  position  for  one  player 
might  not  be  equally  good  for  one  playing 
in  quite  a  different  manner,  so  it  must  be  left 
to  each  player's  own  decision  where,  within, 
of  course,  certain  limitations,  she  will  stand 
in  relation  to  the  ball.  Her  decision,  it  is 
hardly  necessary  to  add,  should  be  based  on 


90  Golf  for  Women 

a  close  observation  of  how  she  obtains  her 
best  shots. 

George  Duncan,  in  his  article  on  "Iron 
Club  Play"  in  "Golf  Illustrated"  makes  the 
following  statement:  "We  now  come  to  the 
much-discussed  'push'  shot,  which  should  be 
used  for  every  shot  with  an  iron  club  from  the 
three-quarter  shot  with  the  cleek  down  to  a 
chip  shot  with  the  mashie.  All  these  shots 
should  be  played  with  one  object — that  is,  to 
put  back-spin  on  the  ball,  which  is  the  only 
way  to  make  it  fly  straight  and  at  the  same 
time  to  get  stop  on  it  after  its  pitch." 

The  method  of  making  the  "push"  shot  has 
been  described  over  and  over  again,  and  it  is 
not  my  purpose  to  say  anything  about  the 
stroke  in  detail  at  the  present  time,  although 
I  shall  discuss  it  in  a  later  chapter,  but  this 
extremely  positive  and  unqualified  assertion 
of  Duncan's  that  it  should  be  used  at  all  times, 
especially  when  we  remember  that  he  is  writ- 
ing for  women,  can  hardly  be  allowed  to  pass 
unchallenged. 

The  "push"  shot  is  difficult  to  accomplish 


MRS.  RONALD  H.  BARLOW 
Iron  shot  from  a  roadway. 


The  Mid-Iron  and  Cleek  91 

and,  although  it  is  most  useful  in  some  cir- 
cumstances and  should  be  at  the  command  of 
every  first-class  player,  it  is  obviously  ridicu- 
lous to  say  that  it  should  be  used  at  all  times 
and  with  all  iron  clubs.  The  ball  played  with 
"push"  flies  straight  and  low  until  the  force 
of  its  forward  impetus  begins  to  slacken;  at 
this  point  the  influence  of  the  back-spin  be- 
comes apparent  in  its  flight  and  the  ball  rises 
in  the  air  and  finally  drops  and  rolls  but  lit- 
tle. It  is  a  beautiful  shot  but  it  is  not  the 
one  required  at  all  times  with  any  iron  club. 
In  this  description  of  how  to  play  the 
"push"  shot  (following  the  statement  just 
quoted),  Duncan  says,  "In  the  correct  stance 
for  this  shot  the  right  foot  is  a  little  in  ad- 
vance of  the  left,  with  the  ball  more  nearly  in 
a  line  with  the  left  heel  than  with  the  right, 
and  the  hands  in  a  dead  line  with  the  ball.' 
If  we  turn  to  "Modern  Golf,"  by  Mr.  P.  A. 
Vaile,  and  look  at  plate  40,  we  see  Duncan 
addressing  the  ball  for  the  "push."  A  very 
accurate  description  of  his  position  is  printed 
below  the  picture;  I  will  quote  from  that. 


92  Golf  for  Women 

"The  ball  is  nearer  the  right  foot  than  for  an 
ordinary  cleek  shot,  that  is  to  say,  the  player 
is  more  in  front  of  the  ball  than  for  an  ordi- 
nary shot.  It  will  be  observed,  however,  that 
his  hands  are  in  front  of  the  ball,  that  is,  they 
have  not  moved  back  to  keep  in  line  with  the 
head  of  the  club." 

If  it  were  worth  while  to  follow  the  text  of 
Duncan's  article  further,  and  to  compare 
what  he  says  with  what  his  picture  shows  him 
as  doing,  it  would  be  possible  to  perceive  other 
contradictions  besides  the  ones  just  noted  con- 
cerning the  relative  position  of  the  player  to 
the  ball,  and  the  position  of  the  hands;  but 
enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  Duncan 
does  not  himself  do  what  he  advises  women  to 
do.  It  is  difficult  to  account  for  this  but  such, 
nevertheless,  is  the  case.  Without  wishing 
to  criticise  Duncan  in  any  way,  it  goes  to 
prove  what  I  said  in  the  preface  of  this  book — 
that  what  men  have  written  for  women  about 
golf  is  very  unsatisfactory.  I  might  add  that, 
in  this  article  that  has  been  under  considera- 
tion, Duncan  has  not  really  described  the 


The  Mid-Iron  and  Cleek  93 

"push"  shot,  as  the  reader  is  led  to  suppose, 
but  the  regular  iron  or  cleek  shot. 

As  a  general  rule  for  ordinary  strokes  with 
the  iron,  the  ball  should  be  equidistant  be- 
tween the  two  feet  or  a  little  nearer  the  left, 
and  the  left  foot  should  be  drawn  back  some- 
what so  that  the  player  faces  a  little  toward 
the  hole.  The  value  of  the  open  stance  be- 
comes apparent  after  the  ball  has  been  struck, 
because,  in  making  all  straight  shots  with  iron 
clubs,  the  club  should  follow  through  in  the 
line  to  the  hole,  and  not  finish  above  the  left 
shoulder  as  it  does  after  a  drive.  Sometimes, 
after  an  iron  shot,  the  club-head  finishes  high 
in  the  air  and  sometimes  pointing  toward  the 
pin,  but,  in  either  case,  the  fact  that  the  feet 
are  placed  with  the  left  drawn  back  makes 
it  easy  for  the  player  to  turn  toward  the  hole 
after  the  ball  is  struck,  and  to  allow  the  club- 
head  to  follow  through  in  the  proper  direc- 
tion. Care  should  be  taken  in  addressing  the 
ball  that  the  sole  of  the  club  shall  rest  truly 
on  the  ground.  The  grip  .should  be  very 
firm,  and  at  no  time  should  the  hands  relax, 


94  Golf  for  Women 

as  the  slightest  looseness  may  result  in  the 
club's  head  becoming  turned.  The  hands 
should  be  held  so  that  they  are  in  a  line  with 
the  ball,  that  is,  that  the  line  between  the 
hands  and  ball  should  be  at  right  angles  to 
the  ball's  intended  line  of  flight. 

Some  players  maintain  that  the  hands 
should  be  slightly  ahead  of  the  ball  for  mak- 
ing all  iron  shots,  but  I  believe  that  the  posi- 
tion of  the  hands  depends  upon  the  position 
of  the  player  in  regard  to  the  ball.  If  the 
player  is  standing  so  that  the  ball  is  nearer 
her  left  heel  than  her  right,  or  if  the  ball  is 
equidistant  between  her  feet,  the  hands  should 
be  in  a  line  with  the  ball  as  already  described. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  low  ball  with  back- 
spin  is  desired  and  the  player  stands  so  that 
the  ball  is  nearer  her  right  foot,  then  the  hands 
will  be  held  in  advance  of  the  ball.  The  dan- 
ger in  holding  the  hands  forward  is  that  the 
player  is  very  apt  to  "top,"  or,  if  her  faults 
lie  in  another  direction,  she  may  bring  her 
hands  through  so  far  ahead  of  the  club  that, 
when  the  club-head  hits  the  ball,  its  face  is 


The  Mid-Iron  and  Cleek  95 

turned  back  and  out,  and  the  ball  shoots  off 
to  the  right. 

The  question  of  taking  turf  after  iron  shots 
is  a  somewhat  vexed  one.  It  is  maintained 
by  some  that  turf  should  always  be  taken,  but 
it  seems  that  that  is  a  hard  duty,  especially 
to  impose  upon  women.  If  we  consider  for 
a  minute  the  theory  of  iron  shots,  we  can 
easily  clear  away  this  uncertainty.  In  order 
to  get  the  benefit  of  the  slope  of  the  club's 
face  it  is  necessary  to  get  well  under  the  ball; 
in  other  words  the  face  of  the  club  should 
meet  the  ball  at  a  point  midway  between  its 
lower  and  upper  edges  or  a  little  higher.  To 
accomplish  this,  and,  also,  to  put  back-spin 
on  the  ball  by  striking  it  with  a  descending 
blow,  the  stroke  is  made  so  that  the  lowest 
point  of  the  arc  described  by  the  club's  head 
is  an  inch  or  two  ahead  of  the  spot  on  which 
the  ball  lies.  The  ordinary  grass  on  the  fair- 
way generally  allows  enough  room  for  this 
without  necessitating  cutting  the  grass  out  by 
the  roots,  so,  in  ordinary  circumstances,  it  is 
not  incumbent  upon  the  player  to  try  to  dig 


96  Golf  for  Women 

up  a  section  of  turf.  If,  however,  she  does 
take  up  a  divot  after  the  ball  is  hit,,  well  and 
good;  no  harm  is  done  unless  she  digs  so 
deeply  as  to  ground  her  club  and  prevent  a 
proper  follow-through. 

The  backward  swing  should  be  steady  and 
comparatively  slow  with  no  slackness  in  the 
hands  or  wrists.  The  length  of  the  swing 
should  be  determined,  as  always,  by  the  dis- 
tance the  ball  must  carry.  With  a  mid-iron, 
a  half  or  three-quarter  swing  usually  serves 
the  purpose;  if  greater  distance  is  required 
than  can  be  obtained  by  a  three-quarter  swing 
it  is  well  to  use  some  other  club.  It  does  not 
follow  that  a  player  must  never  make  a  full 
swing  with  a  mid-iron,  but  the  mistake  to  be 
guarded  against  is  that  of  forcing  the  club  be- 
yond its  natural  limitations.  If  the  player 
tries  to  get  the  last  possible  foot  of  distance 
of  which  the  club  is  capable,  she  will  probably 
over  swing  and  lose  control  of  the  club.  Be- 
ginners at  the  game,  especially,  are  apt  to 
make  the  mistake  of  over  swinging;  they  make 
too  great  an  effort,  use  too  much  strength. 


The  Mid-Iron  and  Cleek  97 

One  of  the  most  difficult  things  in  the  game  of 
golf  is  to  learn  exactly  where  to  check  the 
backward  swing,  and,  as  it  is  impossible  for 
one  person  to  teach  this  to  another,  each 
player  must  learn  for  herself  by  practice  and 
observation  of  her  strokes. 

When  a  full  shot  is  being  played  the  club 
should  not  go  back  of  the  shoulders  as  it  does 
when  wooden  clubs  are  used,  but  the  swing 
should  be  fairly  upright  in  character.  The 
shaft  of  the  club  at  the  highest  point  of  the 
swing  should  be  above  the  player's  head,  or, 
more  strictly  speaking,  above  the  back  of  her 
neck.  The  peculiarities  of  the  construction 
of  iron  clubs  demand  this  type  of  swing,  and 
it  is  well  that  they  do  because  it  is  much  more 
accurate  than  the  flatter  one  employed  for 
wooden  clubs. 

As  the  club  is  carried  back  the  body  must 
necessarily  turn  at  the  same  time.  It  seems 
useless  to  state  dogmatically  just  what  por- 
tion of  the  body  should  begin  to  move  at  cer- 
tain fixed  points  in  the  club's  journey.  All 
of  the  joints  of  the  body  are  capable  of  being 


98  Golf  for  Women 

twisted  with  the  exception  of  the  knees  and 
the  elbows.  From  the  ankles  to  the  neck  the 
body  may  be  screwed  around,  but,  as  the  knees 
refuse  to  screw,  the  left  knee  must  bend  in 
the  only  way  it  will  go.  There  is  nothing  dif- 
ficult or  complicated  about  all  of  this — a  child 
will  do  it  quite  naturally  and  gracefully.  It 
is  because,  as  our  bodies  mature,  we  are  in- 
clined to  become  stiff  and  awkward  that  so 
many  instructions  about  how  to  turn  the  body 
have  been  considered  necessary.  In  the  long 
run  these  directions  are  confusing,  and  tend 
to  make  the  player  more  stiff  and  self-con- 
scious than  she  was  in  the  beginning.  For 
this  reason  I  do  not  intend  to  go  into  the  sub- 
ject at  all  beyond  emphasizing  two  funda- 
mental principles.  These  are  that  the  head 
must  be  kept  steady  and  that  the  body  must 
not  sway  from  side  to  side.  If  the  player 
will  absolutely  obey  these  instructions,  she  will 
not  go  far  wrong  in  swinging  the  club.  Ease 
and  grace  will  come,  if  they  come  at  all,  by 
practice  and  self-confidence.  It  is  better  to 
keep  in  mind  the  thing  that  must  be  done 


The  Mid-Iron  and  Cleek  99 

rather  than  the  way  in  which  the  thing  must 
be  done.  In  the  case  under  consideration 
the  club  must  be  carried  back  only  far  enough 
to  insure  the  ball's  going  a  predetermined  dis- 
tance after  it  has  been  struck,  and  it  must 
be  brought  forward  again  so  that  the  ball  shall 
be  hit  fairly  and  squarely  as  planned  when  the 
ball  was  addressed.  If  the  player  does  these 
things,  she  need  not  worry  about  the  turn 
of  her  body.  As  I  have  said  before,  good 
form  is  a  means  to  an  end,  not  the  end  in 
itself. 

THE   CLEEK 

Whereas  the  mid-iron  is  universally  popu- 
lar with  the  rank  and  file  of  golfers,  the  cleek 
is  generally  viewed  with  much  misgiving.  As 
a  rule,  it  is  the  expert  player  who  really  en- 
joys using  a  cleek,  and  who  has  thorough  con- 
fidence in  his  or  her  ability  to  manage  it  suc- 
cessfully. There  is  a  certain  uncompromis- 
ing quality  inherent  in  the  cleek  that  demands 
that  it  be  treated  with  great  respect.  It  is 
not  a  club  to  be  trifled  with  and,  consequently, 


100  Golf  for  Women 

as  is  frequently  the  case,  excessive  respect  pro- 
duces in  the  heart  a  suggestion  of  fear  and 
trepidation.  It  is  unfortunate  that  this 
should  be  true,  and  a  golf  player  who  earn- 
estly desires  to  become  proficient  should  early 
in  her  career  rid  herself  of  this  somewhat  su- 
perstitious awe  of  this  exceedingly  useful  club. 
On  account  of  its  straight  head  and  the  mod- 
erate slope  of  its  face,  the  cleek  does  not  adapt 
itself  readily  to  unfavorable  conditions,  but 
there  are  certain  times  at  which  the  cleek  is, 
without  doubt,  the  only  club  to  use.  At  such 
times  the  player  should  be  able  to  take  it 
from  her  bag  with  absolute  confidence  in  the 
success  of  the  shot  she  is  about  to  make. 

In  general  the  stance  and  the  swing  for  the 
cleek  are  the  same  as  that  employed  for  the 
mid-iron.  The  question  of  whether  or  not 
a  full  swing  of  the  kind  that  is  used  with  a 
driver  and  brassie  should  be  used  with  a  cleek 
is  one  on  which  there  is  much  difference  of 
opinion.  Many  players  say  that  a  full  shot 
should  never,  or  almost  never,  be  played  with 
an  iron  club.  It  is  true  that  in  a  half  or  three- 


•*.*•    •  •«••*••      ••• 

,••••• 


The  Mid-Iron  and  Cleek          101 

quarter  shot  there  is  less  room  for  error  than 
there  is  in  a  full  shot.  On  the  other  hand 
it  requires  very  strong  forearms  and  wrists 
to  make  the  ball  carry  very  far  when  a  greatly 
curtailed  swing  is  used.  Discretion  and  com- 
mon sense  must  guide  each  player  in  deciding 
this  question  for  herself.  As  a  definite  rule, 
it  can  be  said  only  that  it  is  unwise  to  try  to 
force  a  club  at  any  time.  It  is  better  to  play 
a  three-quarter  cleek  shot  than  a  full  shot  with 
a  mid-iron;  if  there  is  any  doubt  about  the 
mashie's  carrying  the  ball  to  the  green,  the 
player  should  take  a  mid-iron  and  use  a  short- 
ened swing.  On  the  other  hand,  to  cite  an- 
other possible  case,  if  the  player  wishes  to 
send  a  long,  low  ball  against  the  wind,  there 
is  no  reason  why  she  should  not  take  her  cleek, 
swing  the  club  around  back  of  her  neck  and 
hit  for  all  she  is  worth.  One  of  the  distin- 
guishing signs  that  differentiates  an  expert 
player  from  an  ordinary  one  is  the  skill  and 
accuracy  with  which  she  can  make  half  shots 
with  her  iron  clubs.  It  is  far  from  easy  to 
learn  just  how  far  back  to  carry  the  club,  and 


102  Golf  for  Women 

to  learn  to  keep  the  body  and  club  under  abso- 
lute control  during  the  stroke,  but  steadiness 
and  accuracy  in  iron  shots  must  be  attained  if 
the  player  is  to  raise  herself  above  the  level  of 
ordinary  slashers.  Women,  on  the  whole,  are 
inclined  to  over-swing  with  their  iron  clubs 
and  for  this  reason  they  should  make  a  special 
eif  ort  to  practice  half  and  three-quarter  shots 
long  and  diligently.  Patient  work  in  this  di- 
rection will  bring  its  reward  in  the  sureness 
and  finish  it  will  give  to  the  player's  game. 

In  using  iron  clubs  it  is  a  common  fault 
among  women  to  make  the  ball  rise  too  high 
in  the  air  and,  by  so  doing,  to  lose  the  distance 
that  the  ball  should  carry  and,  also,  to  expose 
the  ball  to  the  dangers  of  a  crosswise  or  con- 
trary wind.  Usually  it  should  be  the  earnest 
endeavor  of  the  player  to  keep  the  ball  as  low 
as  possible.  Unless  there  is  rising  ground  to 
be  surmounted  or  a  bunker  to  be  cleared,  there 
is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  the  ball's  abruptly 
climbing  into  the  air.  I  must  except,  of 
course,  such  shots  as  pitched  mashie  shots 
when  the  ball  is  played  so  that  it  will  drop 


The  Mid-Iron  and  Cleek          103 

dead  upon  the  green;  I  refer  now  to  ordinary 
mid-iron  or  cleek  shots.  The  reason  a  wom- 
an's iron  club  shots  are  inclined  to  fly  high  is 
because  she  picks  up  the  ball  at  the  bottom 
of  the  swing.  In  order  to  overcome  this  fail- 
ing it  is  necessary  to  hit  the  ball  while  the  club 
is  still  on  its  downward  journey.  A  slight 
change  of  stance,  so  that  the  ball  is  a  little 
nearer  the  right  foot  than  the  left,  will  ac- 
complish this  result,  and  if  a  player  finds  that 
she  is  regularly  hitting  the  ball  too  high  into 
the  air,  it  would  be  wise  for  her  to  try  stand- 
ing a  little  ahead  of  the  ball  in  this  way.  It 
follows  naturally  that  when  she  is  making 
the  address  her  hands  will  be  a  trifle  in  ad- 
vance of  the  ball.  Such  a  position  is  perfectly 
correct;  in  fact,  as  I  have  said  before,  many 
players  believe  that,  in  playing  all  shots  with 
iron  clubs,  the  hands  should  be  ahead  of  the 
ball.  The  danger,  which  I  must  again  em- 
phasize, of  this  position  lies  in  the  fact  that, 
if  it  is  at  all  exaggerated,  the  player  may,  in 
making  the  stroke,  bring  her  hands  through 
so  much  before  the  head  of  the  club  that  the 


104  Golf  for  Women 

face  of  the  club  will  be  turned  out  and  the 
ball  will  fly  off  to  the  right. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  in  iron  play 
it  is  better  to  aim  at  a  point  a  little  behind 
the  baU  than  at  the  ball  itself.  Theoretically 
this  advice  is  unsound,  but  practically  it  works 
itself  out  as  a  convenient  concession  to  safety. 
If  one  were  playing  with  an  iron  ball  on  an 
iron  floor,  one  would  not  take  an  iron  club  and 
aim  at  the  floor  in  order  to  hit  the  ball.  The 
resulting  shock  would  hurt  the  hands,  and,  by 
the  time  the  club  had  rebounded  from  the  floor 
to  the  ball,  there  would  be  little  force  left  in 
the  blow.  With  an  outfit  of  iron  such  as  I 
have  described  the  player  would  undoubtedly 
aim  at  the  ball  and  at  nothing  else,  but — and 
here  is  the  point  of  this  illustration — unless 
she  were  a  wonder  of  accuracy,  she  would  al- 
most as  undoubtedly  "top"  the  ball.  It  is  for 
this  reason  that,  when  a  player  has  springy 
turf  or  loose  sand  before  her,  she  may  safely 
and  wisely  aim  behind  the  ball  and  thus 
greatly  lessen  the  chances  that  a  little  unstead- 
iness on  her  part  will  cause  her  to  spoil  her 


The  Mid-Iron  and  Cleek          105 

shot  by  "topping."  Although  the  game  of 
golf  is  based  on  scientific  principles,  a  few  con- 
cessions must  be  made  to  the  inexactness  of 
the  movements  of  the  human  body. 

THE  DRIVING  MASHIE  AND  THE  SPOON 

For  those  players  who  cannot  feel  them- 
selves comfortable  and  confident  with  the 
cleek,  there  is  the  driving-mashie  that  may 
be  used  as  a  substitute.  The  slope  of  its  face 
is  a  little  more  upright  than  that  of  the  mid- 
iron  and  a  little  less  straight  than  that  of  the 
cleek.  In  this  respect  it  stands  between  these 
two  clubs,  but  in  general  shape  it  resembles 
the  mashie.  Like  the  mashie,  the  face  is 
rather  broad  and  is  decidedly  wider  at  the  toe 
than  where  it  joins  the  shaft.  It  is  an  easier 
club  to  use  than  the  cleek  as  it  will  more  easily 
pick  a  ball  out  of  an  indifferent  lie,  but  it  is 
not  so  strong  a  club  and  it  is  not  possible  to 
get  so  great  a  distance  with  it.  However,  it 
has  its  uses  and  its  disadvantages  and  has 
found  favor  with  a  great  many  players. 

Another  club  that  may  be  used  instead  of 


106  Golf  for  Women 

the  cleek  is  the  spoon.  The  spoon  is  more 
nearly  similar  to  a  brassie  than  any  other  club 
on  account  of  its  wooden  head  and  brass  cov- 
ered sole.  Its  head,  however,  is  not  so  deep 
nor  so  broad  as  that  of  a  brassie  and  its  face 
is  more  sloped  back.  On  account  of  the  fact 
that  its  sole  is  curved  from  toe  to  heel,  it  can 
readily  pick  a  ball  out  of  a  cuppy  He,  and 
therefore  it  is  an  easy  club  to  use  in  situations 
where  a  brassie  would  be  impossible.  Re- 
cently the  club  has  come  into  quite  general 
popularity  after  having  lain  in  oblivion  for 
some  years.  Before  iron  clubs  were  used  at 
all,  the  spoon,  or  baffy  as  it  was  then  called, 
served  the  purposes  for  which  the  mid-iron 
and  cleek  were  afterward  designed.  With 
the  general  acceptance  of  iron  clubs  the  spoon 
fell  into  disuse,  and  has  been  taken  up  again 
only  comparatively  recently.  It  is  not  such 
a  difficult  club  to  use  as  the  cleek,  and  it  will 
get  a  long  ball  without  a  great  deal  of  run. 
It  cannot,  however,  be  used  to  produce  such 
precise  arid  accurate  shots  as  can  a  cleek  when 
in  the  hands  of  an  expert,  but  for  the  ordi- 


The  Mid-Iron  and  Cleek          107 

nary  player  it  is  a  very  convenient  club.  I 
have  J.  H.  Taylor  as  my  authority  for  the 
statement  that  "A  professional  golfer  is  never 
known  to  use  the  baffy."  If  this  is  true,  it 
does  not  mean  that  the  club  must  be  banished 
by  less  proficient  players,  but  it  may  be  taken 
as  a  warning  not  to  rely  on  the  baff y-spoon  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  mid-iron  and  cleek,  be- 
cause in  the  long  run  it  will  not  prove  so  sat- 
isfactory. 

Against  this  remark  of  Taylor's,  we  have 
the  fact  that  George  Duncan  has  been  using 
his  spoon  very  successfully,  but  whether  or 
not  he  will  continue  to  favor  it,  is  impossible 
to  predict.  Among  those  professional  play- 
ers who  speak  of  using  a  spoon  it  is  possible 
to  detect  a  somewhat  apologetic  air.  In 
"The  New  Book  of  Golf,"  page  197,  Sher- 
lock says :  "I  must  confess  to  a  distinct  liking 
for  playing  my  spoon.  It  has  a  fairly  long 
shallow  face  and  a  stiff  shaft  only  two  inches 
shorter  than  that  of  my  brassie.  I  swing  for 
a  full  shot  with  this  club  in  just  the  same  way 
as  I  do  with  a  driver.  I  frequently  use  it  for 


108  Golf  for  Women 

short  shots — checking  the  backward  swing — 
and  much  prefer  it  to  a  cleek."  That  this  is 
a  sincere  expression  of  Sherlock's  opinion  no 
one  can  doubt.  The  spoon  is  a  very  conven- 
ient club,  it  must  be  admitted,  but  it  is  not 
wise  to  range  oneself  on  the  side  of  those 
players  who  favor  it  above  the  iron  clubs,  nor 
yet  to  stand  with  those  who  systematically 
despise  it.  When  the  ball  is  in  such  a  lie 
that  a  spoon  is  required  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion but  that  the  spoon  must  be  used,  but  it 
weakens  one's  game  to  force  it  into  prece- 
dence over  the  cleek  when  the  cleek  is  ob- 
viously the  club  that  is  right  for  the  particu- 
lar shot  that  is  to  be  played. 


IN  AND  OUT  OF  TROUBLE 

IN  the  game  of  golf,  as  in  the  game  of  life, 
it  is  much  easier  to  get  into  difficulties 
than  out  of  them.  It  is  almost  beyond 
human  capability  always  to  proceed  directly 
down  the  fairway  without  straying  a  little  to 
one  side  or  the  other  and  becoming  ensnared  in 
rough  and  tangled  places :  or,  if  the  feet  walk 
straight  toward  the  goal,  the  pace  may  be  too 
fast  or  too  slow,  so  that  the  unfortunate  one 
finds  herself  facing  an  obstacle  difficult  to 
surmount,  or  entrapped  in  an  unseen  pit- 
fall. 

Fortunately,  in  the  game  of  golf  there  are 
well-known  and  clearly  defined  ways  of  re- 
covering from  unpleasant  situations,  and  the 
player  has  only  to  keep  her  head  clear,  her 
eyes  steady  and  her  grip  firm  and,  ten  to  one, 
she  will  not  come  out  too  badly.  It  may  be 

109 


110  Golf  for  Women 

well  to  add  that  she  must  also  carefully  bear 
in  mind  the  rules  of  the  game.  Too  much 
stress  cannot  be  laid  on  the  necessity  of  a 
player's  knowing  exactly  what  she  may  and 
may  not  do  when  she  finds  her  ball  in  a  bad 
lie.  Frequently  players  who  have  had  sev- 
eral years  of  golfing  experience  will  be  heard 
to  say,  "May  I  move  this  stone?"  or  "I  just 
touched  the  grass  and  my  ball  rolled,  what 
shall  I  do?"  Such  exhibitions  of  indifference 
to  learning  the  rules  of  the  game  cannot  but 
reflect  discredit  on  the  person  who  asks  such 
questions.  She  lays  herself  open  to  adverse 
criticism  not,  perhaps,  concerning  her  hon- 
esty, but  certainly  concerning  her  common 
sense,  or  rather  her  lack  of  it.  There  should 
be  no  doubt  in  a  player's  mind  as  to  what  she 
is  privileged  to  do,  and  she  should  waste  no 
time  in  discussing  the  subject  with  her  oppo- 
nent or  her  caddy. 

There  are  times  when  a  player's  heart  sinks 
as  she  sees  her  ball  drop  into  long  grass  or  on 
rough  and  bumpy  ground,  yet,  on  approach- 
ing the  spot,  she  may  find  that  the  ball  has 


MISS  MURIEL  DODD 
Bunkered. 


i 


MRS.  DOROTHY  CAMPBELL  HURD 
A  good  bunker  shot. 


In  and  Out  of  Trouble  111 

settled  in  a  fairly  open  space  comparatively 
free  from  grass  and  surrounding  bushes.  In 
such  a  case,  she  would  probably  take  her  mid- 
iron  and  try  to  forget  everything  except  the 
fact  that  her  ball  is  lying  clear,  and  that  she 
has  room  in  which  to  swing  her  club.  Such 
fortunate  accidents  are  not  usual,  however, 
and  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  imagine 
that  a  mid-iron  may  frequently  be  used  in 
long  grass.  The  mashie-niblick  and  the  nib- 
lick are  safer  clubs,  and,  if  there  is  any  doubt 
at  all  in  the  player's  mind,  it  is  a  wise  rule 
always  to  consider  safety  first.  Of  course, 
there  are  occasions  when  the  only  chance  of 
winning  the  hole  is  by  making  a  long  shot  and 
then  risks  must  be  taken,  but  "safety  first"  is 
the  motto  to  bear  in  mind  along  with  "keep 
your  eye  on  the  ball." 

It  seems  to  me  that,  in  this  connection,  the 
words  "keep  your  eye  on  the  ball"  are  very 
well  in  intention,  but  that  they  are  really  in- 
exact in  expression.  When  a  ball  must  be 
taken  out  of  long  grass  or  heavy  sand,  it  is 
not  the  ball  that  must  be  eyed  but  the  spot 


112  Golf  for  Women 

behind  the  ball — in  other  words  the  spot  that 
the  player  expects  her  club  to  hit  first.  A 
better  admonition  would  be  "look  where 
you're  hitting  and  hit  where  you're  looking." 
Nowhere  is  woman's  lack  of  powerful  muscles 
such  a  handicap  to  her  in  playing  golf  as  it  is 
when  a  ball  must  be  chopped  out  of  thick 
grass  or  excavated  from  heavy  sand.  It  re- 
quires powerful  forearms  and  wrists  to  sepa- 
rate the  ball  from  its  resting  place  and  to  send 
it  any  considerable  distance  on  its  way  to  the 
hole.  For  this  reason  it  is  foolish  for  a 
woman  to  attempt  too  much;  she  should  be 
satisfied  to  get  the  ball  well  out,  and  in  such  a 
position  that  her  next  shot  will  be  an  easy  one. 
Sometimes,  if,  for  instance,  there  is  some  ob- 
struction such  as  trees  or  a  steep  bank  that 
prevents  the  swinging  of  the  club,  it  may  be 
necessary  to  play  to  the  left  or  the  right  or 
even  directly  back,  but  it  is  far  better  to  swal- 
low all  pride  and  be  content  to  get  the  ball 
clear,  than  to  try  a  shot  that  is  practically 
doomed  to  failure  from  the  start.  Head  work 
counts  a  great  deal  in  getting  out  of  difficul- 


In  and  Out  of  Trouble  113 

ties,  and  women  have  no  reason  for  admitting 
inferiority  when  it  comes  to  the  use  of  mental 
faculties. 

When  the  ball  is  lying  in  grass  so  that  the 
player  must  use  her  mashie-niblick  or  nib- 
lick to  get  it  out,  careful  judgment  is  re- 
quired to  ascertain  just  how  far  back  of  the 
ball  the  club  head  should  strike  first.  If  the 
player  aims  too  far  back,  the  progress  of  her 
club  will  be  checked  and  probably  the  face 
turned  outward  by  the  tough, grass  blades;  on 
the  other  hand,  if  she  aims  too  closely  behind 
the  ball,  there  is  great  danger  of  topping. 
Experience  and  observation  alone  can  teach 
the  player  the  safest  course,  but  woe  to  the 
one  who  refuses  to  be  taught  and  goes  blindly 
thumping  and  whacking  among  the  bushes. 
If  such  is  her  state  of  mind  she  may  as  well 
give  up  at  the  start,  pick  up  her  ball,  and 
walk  on  to  the  next  tee.* 

Firmly  settled  feet,  a  steady  head,  a  tight 
grip,  an  upright  swing,  and  grim  determina- 
tion are  the  necessary  requisites  for  chopping 
a  ball  out  of  tough  grass.  No  thought  of 


114  Golf  for  Women 

"sweeping"  the  ball  anywhere  must  be  al- 
lowed to  enter  the  mind,  and  the  follow- 
through  must  be  left  to  take  care  of  itself. 
In  all  probability  there  will  not  be  any  follow- 
through  worth  considering  if  the  grass  is  very 
unyielding.  The  one  object  is  to  hit  the  ball 
and  hit  it  hard.  When  the  ball  is  lying  in 
sand  a  different  set  of  conditions  presents 
itself  to  the  player,  but  the  player's  mental 
reaction  should  be  the  same  as  when  the  ball 
is  in  "the  rough."  If  the  ball  is  lying  free 
and  clear,  the  player  may  forget  the  fact  that 
she  is  in  a  sand  trap,  and  use  her  mid-iron 
with  the  same  stroke  and  the  same  confidence 
that  she  would  if  the  ball  were  safely  on  the 
fairway.  A  little  sand  should  be  taken  in 
front  of  the  ball  in  the  same  way  that  the 
turf  should  be  grazed  in  an  ordinary  mid-iron 
shot.  Soft  sand,  if  the  ball  is  lying  free, 
offers  no  difficulties  at  all. 

The  case,  of  course,  is  different  if  the  ball 
is  partly  buried,  or  has  come  to  rest  in  a  heel 
print,  or  has  a  steep  bunker  before  it.  In 
any  of  these  situations  the  player  would  use 


In  and  Out  of  Trouble  115 

her  mashie  or  niblick,  probably  her  niblick 
because,  if  there  is  any  digging  to  be  done, 
the  heavier  club  is  far  more  effective.  She 
must  be  sure  to  settle  her  feet  firmly  in  the 
sand  because  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
that  the  body  should  be  kept  absolutely  with- 
out swaying  while  the  shot  is  being  played. 
It  is  advisable  and  quite  permissible  that  she 
wriggle  her  feet  from  side  to  side  until  she 
feels  that  her  position  is  fixed  and  comforta- 
ble. There  are  occasions  when  the  ball  is 
lying  in  such  a  position  that  it  is  impossible 
for  the  player  to  stand  evenly,  and  she  must 
adapt  her  stance  to  the  circumstances  as  best 
she  can.  Even  though  her  position  is  awk- 
ward, however,  she  must  do  her  best  to  make 
it  so  secure  that,  in  swinging  her  club,  she  will 
not  inadvertently  sway  her  body.  Firmness 
of  stance  and  firmness  of  grip  are  two  prime 
essentials  to  play  in  bad  ground.  Never  for 
a  moment  must  the  player  allow  herself  to 
relax,  nor  to  waver  in  her  determination  to 
accomplish  her  shot  and  in  her  confidence  of 
doing  it. 


116  Golf  for  Women 

The  stance  having  been  taken,  the  question 
of  where  to  aim  again  arises.  In  order  to 
get  under  the  ball,  it  is  necessary  to  aim  back 
of  it  and  to  take  sand.  The  ball  may  be  in 
any  one  of  so  many  possible  positions  that  it 
would  be  useless  to  try  to  make  a,  rule  that 
would  fit  all  cases.  The  only  course  for  the 
player  to  adopt  is  to  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that 
she  must  not  be  afraid  of  taking  sand,  and, 
also,  that  she  must  not  overdo  the  matter  and 
cut  completely  under  the  ball  or  ground  her 
club.  The  fine  line  that  lies  between  enough 
and  too  much  she  must  draw  for  her- 
self. 

If  it  is  necessary  to  make  the  ball  rise  very 
abruptly  into  the  air  to  clear  some  obstruc- 
tion, a  variation  of  the  ordinary  niblick  shot  is 
demanded.  The  player  stands  well  behind  the 
ball,  with  feet  planted  as  firmly  as  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  situation  permit,  and  holds  the 
hands  low.  The  face  of  the  niblick  is  turned 
back  and  out,  and  the  ball  is  addressed  by  the 
heel  of  the  club.  The  backward  swing  is  very 
upright,  and  the  club  is  brought  down  sharply 


In  and  Out  of  Trouble  117 

so  that  the  face  of  the  club  cuts  under  the 
ball  from  right  to  left.  This  is  a  "cut"  stroke 
and  the  ball  will  have  a  tendency  to  go  to 
the  right.  To  counteract  this,  the  aim  should 
be  taken  to  the  left  of  the  direction  in  which 
the  player  desires  the  ball  to  go.  It  is  in- 
valuable to  a  player  to  be  able  to  use  this 
stroke  with  confidence  and  precision,  because 
situations  frequently  occur  (such  as  when  the 
ball  is  under  the  edge  of  a  bank  or  has  a  steep 
bunker  rising  before  it)  when  this  is  the  only 
stroke  that  will  surely  and  safely  extricate  it. 
Braid,  in  speaking  of  this  shot,  "Advanced 
Golf,"  page  124,  says,  "Grip  the  club  firmly, 
though  not  in  an  absolutely  tight  and  un- 
yielding manner,  such  as  would  be  recom- 
mended when  playing  from  heather  or  gorse. 
The  reason  for  the  distinction  is  just  this, 
that  we  want  a  little  play  in  the  wrists,  and 
some  slackness  of  the  muscles,  in  order  to 
nip  the  ball  up  and  screw  it  out  of  its  place, 
as  it  were,  at  the  moment  of  impact.  This 
screw- jerk,  with  very  much  the  same  kind  of 
wrist  action  as  is  employed  when  a  man  is  en- 


118  Golf  for  Women 

gaged  in  uncorking  a  bottle  with  a  cork- 
screw, is  a  very  necessary  feature  of  the  well 
played  niblick  shot.''  If  we  take  Braid  at  his 
word  and  form  a  mental  picture  of  him  play- 
ing a  niblick  shot  as  he  here  describes,  we 
would  see  him  in  our  mind's  eye  coming  down 
behind  the  ball  with  his  niblick,  screwing  the 
niblick  around,  and  then  jerking  the  ball  out. 
Such  a  course  of  action  would  be  so  absurd 
that  it  is  needless  to  say  that  no  one  ever  saw 
Braid  in  flesh  and  blood1  do  this  remarkable 
feat.  However,  I  have  quoted  this  passage, 
not  so  much  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
Braid  has  been  unable  to  find  words  ade- 
quately to  describe  his  own  actions,  as  to  em- 
phasize again  the  point  that  students  of  the 
game  of  golf  must  consider  carefully  not  only 
what  they  are  told  but  also  what  they  read, 
and  must  apply  to  each  statement  the  test  of 
their  own  intelligent  reasoning.  It  is  natural 
to  say  to  oneself,  "If  Mr.  Open  Champion 
says  so,  it  must  be  true,"  and  let  it  go  at  that. 
The  danger  that  lies  in  this  mental  attitude 
is  that,  although  Mr.  Open  Champion  is  a 


In  and  Out  of  Trouble  119 

wonderful  player,  when  he  tries  to  tell  others 
what  he  does  he  finds  it  difficult  to  describe  in 
words  the  motions  that  are  easy  enough  for 
him  to  perform.  It  follows  that  his  words 
are  frequently  misleading.  I  do  not  wish  to 
decry  the  usefulness  of  the  books  that  have 
been  written  by  great  players,  but  I  wish  to 
urge  the  importance  of  each  woman's  sifting 
out  all  instruction  and  advice,  and  keeping 
for  her  own  use  only  what  her  mind  tells  her 
is  sound. 

These  remarks  may  seem  to  be  a  digression 
but,  through  the  quotations  from  Braid,  they 
lead  back  to  the  execution  of  the  niblick  shot. 
Nothing  could  be  more  disastrous  to  the 
player  getting  her  ball  out  of  heavy  sand  be- 
hind a  bunker  than  any  attempt  to  "screw- 
jerk"  it  out.  The  niblick  is  a  heavy  club, 
with  a  sharp  lower  edge  and  a  face  much 
sloped  back.  The  player  has  only  to  hit 
under  the  ball  at  the  proper  spot  with  suffi- 
cient strength  and  the  club  will  force  the  ball 
out  and  up.  To  try  to  jerk  up  the  ball  leads 
to  that  gravest  fault  in  bunker  play,  raising 


120  Golf  for  Women 

the  shoulders  and  head.  Although  it  may  be 
the  natural  impulse  to  try  to  scoop  the  ball 
out,  the  conditions  under  which  the  shot  is 
played  demand  that  in  order  to  hit  the  ball  up 
one  must  hit  the  club  down. 


MRS.  CLAREXCE  H.  VAXDERBECK 

Good  form  in  the  follow-through. 


VI 

THE  WOODEN   CLUBS 

IT  is  with  some  trepidation  that  I  under- 
take to  write  this  chapter  on  wooden 
clubs.  When  there  is  so  much  that  may 
be  said  on  a  subject  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to 
select  the  essential  from  the  non-essential,  or, 
to  express  it  differently,  to  push  back  into  ob- 
livion all  the  useless  notions  and  fancies  that 
cling  about  this  part  of  the  game  of  golf,  and 
to  present  only  facts  that  are  really  worth  con- 
sideration. Stripped  of  all  entangling  ideas, 
the  theory  of  driving  a  golf  ball  is  simple 
enough;  the  most  elemental  mind  can  readily 
understand  what  must  be  done,  but  the  doing 
of  it,  involving  as  it  does  the  coherent  action 
of  the  whole  body,  can  be  accomplished  only 
after  the  most  conscientious  practice. 

The  reader  has  now  been  led  through  all 

the  usual  strokes  of  the  game;  she  has  started 

121 


122  Golf  for  Women 

at  the  putting  green  and  has  proceeded,  or 
perhaps  I  should  say  'receded,  through  the 
broad  fairway  with  its  surrounding  spots  of 
danger,  to  the  tee.  If  she  is  a  beginner  and 
has  practiced  her  shots  in  the  order  in  which 
they  have  been  discussed,  she  will  have  laid 
such  a  foundation  of  experience  and  muscular 
control  that,  when  she  has  arrived  at  the  point 
where  she  is  ready  to  take  up  driving,  she  will 
have  only  a  very  little  more  to  learn  in  order 
to  complete  the  structure  of  her  game.  If 
she  is  a  beginner,  and  is  perverse  enough  to 
insist  on  learning  to  drive  first  of  all,  she  will 
meet  with  much  discouragement  before  she 
has  mastered  this  art.  However,  with  pa- 
tience and  persistent  trying  she  will  get  on. 
The  order  in  which  a  player  masters  the  dif- 
ferent clubs  is  not  of  vital  importance  but,  as 
it  is  the  logical  method  to  start  with  the  easiest 
and  work  up  to  the  hardest,  I  have  advised 
that  course.  A  player  who  has  a  different 
mental  conviction  on  the  subject  should  fol- 
low her  own  way  of  thinking.  An  honest 
belief,  even  though  a  mistaken  one,  will  not 


The  Wooden  Clubs  123 

do  a  player  real  harm.  If  she  thinks  enough 
to  form  an  independent  opinion,  she  will 
think  enough  to  correct  it  when  she  finds 
she  has  been  wrong.  So  long  as  a  player  is 
actively  thinking  for  herself,  she  is  on  the  high 
road  to  becoming  a  good  golfer.  It  is  the 
woman  who  believes  everything  she  is  told  and 
drifts  from  one  notion  to  another  as  she  hap- 
pens to  read  a  book  or  to  receive  friendly  ad- 
vice, whose  case  is  well  nigh  hopeless. 

Undoubtedly  the  best  way  for  a  woman  to 
learn  to  drive,  or  to  improve  her  driving  if  she 
is  already  well  along  in  the  game,  is  to  put 
herself  under  the  tutelage  of  a  good  profes- 
sional teacher.  It  is  possible  to  read  and 
study  and  to  teach  oneself,  but  it  is  a  long  and 
difficult  process.  Where  books  fail  is  in  the 
fact  that,  while  they  can  tell  a  player  what  to 
do  and  what  not  to  do,  they  cannot  follow 
each  individual  onto  the  links  and  see  whether 
she  is  obeying  instructions.  In  an  act  such  as 
the  golf  drive,  involving  as  it  does  the  whole 
body  from  the  head  to  the  toes,  there  are  many 
opportunities  for  unconscious  error  on  the 


124  Golf  for  Women 

part  of  the  player.  She  may  think  she  is  do- 
ing a  certain  thing  and  not  really  be  doing  it  at 
all.  A  professional  teacher  will  immediately 
point  out  to  her  her  mistakes  and  she  will 
lose  no  time  in  correcting  them,  whereas,  if 
she  is  practicing  entirely  alone,  she  may  easily 
persist  indefinitely  in  the  same  error  with- 
out discovering  it  for  herself. 

One  may  ask  then,  "What  is  the  use  of 
books?"  Unfortunately  all  players  are  not 
so  situated  that  they  may  engage  a  profes- 
sional teacher  as  frequently  as  they  would 
wish,  and,  also,  there  is  not  always  a  good 
professional  at  hand.  Books  may  be  read  at 
times  of  leisure  when  the  mind  is  undisturbed 
by  the  necessity  of  action,  so  that  their  words 
receive  more  calm  consideration  than  do  the 
words  of  the  instructor.  It  is  a  wise  plan  to 
read  and  to  take  lessons  at  the  same  time,  as 
it  frequently  happens  that  the  teacher  may 
clear  up  some  difficulty  that  has  confronted 
the  player  in  her  reading.  If,  however,  the 
book  and  the  teacher  seem  to  be  at  variance  in 
their  statements,  it  is  well  for  the  pupil  to 


The  Wooden  Clubs  125 

suggest  that  fact  to  her  teacher  rather  ten- 
tatively. If  he  clears  up  the  seeming  dis- 
agreement, well  and  good ;  if,  however,  he  an- 
swers shortly,  "I  don't  know  anything  at  all 
about  that,"  it  is  wise  for  the  pupil  not  to 
pursue  the  subject  further,  but  to  think  it 
out  for  herself,  otherwise  the  psychological 
harmony  between  the  teacher  and  the  one 
taught  may  be  disturbed.  No  professional 
enjoys  having  a  book,  metaphorically  speak- 
ing, hurled  at  his  head. 

Not  only  is  it  helpful  to  seek  a  professional 
teacher  for  instruction  in  the  art  of  driving, 
but  also  for  advice  in  the  selection  of  a  club. 
It  is  not  possible  to  say  what  the  length  of  its 
shaft,  nor  the  weight,  nor  the  lie  of  the  club 
should  be  because  the  club  must  be  fitted  to 
the  size  and  physical  peculiarities  of  each  in- 
dividual just  as  her  shoes  would  be  fitted  to 
her  feet.  All  advice  on  the  choosing  of  this 
club  must  be  of  the  most  general  character 
and  may  serve  only  as  a  guide  if  the  player 
is  left  entirely  on  her  own  responsibility  in 
this  important  matter.  Duncan  gives  the 


126  Golf  for  Women 

proper  length  of  the  shaft  for  a  woman  as 
forty-one  and  one-half  inches.  This  length 
is  probably  the  average,  and  the  player  can 
judge  for  herself  whether  she  will  need  a 
longer  or  shorter  club.  The  shaft  should  be 
springy  when  compared  with  the  stiff  shafts 
of  the  iron  clubs,  but  not  so  springy  that, 
when  the  club  is  swung,  it  will  bend  so  much 
as  to  endanger  in  any  way  the  accuracy  of  the 
shot.  It  is  well  to  avoid  extremes  of  any 
kind,  especially  for  a  beginner.  The  lie  of 
the  club  and  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
head  should  all  be  moderate.  Too  long  a  face 
leads  to  inaccuracy  in  addressing  the  ball  and 
too  short  a  face  gives  too  much  chance  of  toe- 
ing or  heeling.  As  in  the  length  of  the  club's 
face,  so  also  in  the  depth,  should  a  happy  me- 
dium be  found.  If  there  should  be  any  pre- 
determined preference  about  the  depth  of  the 
face  of  the  club,  it  should  be  away  from  the 
shallow  type.  They  are  apt  to  emphasize 
one  of  women's  most  common  faults  in  driv- 
ing, that  is,  sending  the  ball  too  high  in  the 
air  and  thereby  sacrificing  distance.  For 


The  Wooden  Clubs  127 

the  same  reason  it  is  well  for  a  woman  to  se- 
lect a  club  whose  face  has  only  a  very  little 
loft. 

When  a  woman  has  been  playing  for  some 
time  and  has  fallen  into  the  habit  of  her  own 
particular  style  of  play,  she  will,  without 
doubt,  have  certain  changes  made  in  her 
driver  when  it  is  practicable  to  make  the  al- 
terations she  wishes,  or  she  will  buy  a  new 
club  that  will  meet  her  requirements  as  she 
has  come  to  know  them.  By  that  time  she 
will  be  able  to  judge  for  herself  what  pe- 
culiarities of  the  club,  if  any,  suit  her  own 
individual  method  of  playing. 

THE   STANCE 

In  dissecting  the  golf  drive  into  its  com- 
ponent parts  for  the  purpose  of  detailed  con- 
sideration we  find  that  it  naturally  falls  into 
four  divisions ;  the  stance,  the  grip,  the  swing 
of  the  club,  and  the  action  of  the  body  during 
the  swing.  Following  our  usual  procedure 
we  shall  first  present  the  subject  of  the  stance. 
The  reasons  for  beginning  with  the  stance  are 


128  Golf  for  Women 

that  it  is  the  easiest  part  of  the  act  of  driv- 
ing, and  that  the  somewhat  complicated  ac- 
tion of  swinging  the  club  and  twisting  the 
body  cannot  be  properly  executed  if  the  feet 
are  not  placed  in  the  right  position  in  rela- 
tion to  the  ball.  It  is  difficult  to  follow  the 
reasoning  of  Mrs.  Ross  when  she  says,  The 
New  Book  of  Golf,  page  272,  "I  am  inclined 
to  think  that  the  grip  should  be  attended  to 
first,  then  the  swing,  and  lastly  the  stance. 
The  stance  is  the  easiest  problem  of  the  three 
to  tackle,  and  may  quite  well  be  postponed." 
Why  not  attack  the  easiest  problem  first  and 
clear  it  out  of  the  way,  especially  when,  as 
in  this  case,  the  most  difficult  problem,  which 
is  the  complete  act  of  swinging,  depends  di- 
rectly upon  the  stance?  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  arrangement  of  the  feet  has  a 
decided  effect  on  the  way  in  which  the  club 
comes  through  to  the  ball  and  beyond  it.  The 
slight  turn  of  the  body  that  is  caused  by  plac- 
ing one  foot  or  the  other  in  an  advanced  po- 
sition makes  itself  felt  from  the  shoulders  to 
the  arms  and  so  on  down  to  the  head  of  the 


The  Wooden  Clubs  129 

club.  The  movements  of  every  part  of  the 
body  are  so  closely  inter-related  during  the 
drive  that  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  piece  to- 
gether the  whole  action,  to  begin,  literally, 
at  the  ground  and  to  proceed  from  there  up- 
ward. 

It  would  be  futile  to  attempt  to  state  in 
feet  and  inches  just  how  far  the  player  should 
stand  from  the  ball.  Her  height,  the  length 
of  her  arms,  and  the  way  in  which  she  holds 
herself,  whether  erect  or  stooping,  are  all  fac- 
tors in  determining  where  she  should  stand. 
By  drawing  too  near  the  ball  the  player 
cramps  her  arms,  loses  distance  by  the  short- 
ening of  her  swing,  and  runs  the  risk  of  over- 
reaching and  thereby  hitting  the  ball  with 
the  heel  of  her  club.  The  dangers  of  stand- 
ing too  far  away  are  loss  of  control  of  the 
swing  and  the  tendency  to  hit  with  the  toe 
of  the  club.  A  medium  position  must  be 
taken,  far  enough  away  to  insure  free  action 
of  the  arms  and  a  wide  swing,  but  not  so  far 
that  the  player  will  have  the  sensation  of 
reaching  out  or  straining  for  the  ball.  It  is 


130  Golf  for  Women 

not  possible  to  drive  a  long  Kail  when  the 
player  stands  in  too  closely,  and,  therefore,  if 
a  player  is  convinced  that  she  is  not  getting 
the  distance  she  should,  considering  the 
amount  of  strength  she  is  using,  she  should 
first  take  her  usual  position  on  the  tee,  then 
wriggle  her  feet  back  an  inch  or  two  and  try 
making  her  shot  from  that  position.  By 
moving  back  only  an  inch  at  a  time,  the  player 
can  gradually  accustom  herself  to  the  change 
without  upsetting  her  regular  stroke,  and  she 
will  find  that  her  ball  is  gaining  in  length. 
She  must  stop  this  backward  movement,  how- 
ever, the  moment  she  feels  that  she  is  losing 
her  sureness  and  her  control  of  the  club. 

Because  of  the  fact  that,  even  when  one  uses 
the  most  closely  interlocked  grip,  the  left  hand 
is  nearer  the  body  than  the  right  and  the  left 
arm  is  consequently  a  little  slack,  it  is  not  wise 
to  stand  so  that  the  feet  are  exactly  square 
with  the  ball.  The  expression  "standing 
square  with  the  ball"  means  that  a  line  drawn 
from  toe  to  toe  would  be  parallel  to  the  line 
in  which  the  ball  is  expected  to  travel.  In 


MISS  MARION  ROLLINS 
Good  foot  work  in  finish, 


The  Wooden  Clubs  131 

order  to  take  up  this  slack  and  to  make  the 
arms  draw  evenly  so  that  the  right  shall  not 
dominate  the  left  more  than  is  natural,  the  left 
foot  is  drawn  back  a  few  inches.  This 
slightly  open  stance  has  also  the  advantage 
of  affording  the  body  a  firmer  base  on  which 
to  move.  In  a  greatly  modified  degree  it  may 
be  likened  to  the  position  of  the  feet  of  a 
person  who  is  standing  in  a  moving  train. 
Those  of  us  who  are  so  unfortunate  as  to 
have  had  experience  standing  in  trolley  cars 
or  subway  trains  know  that  to  stand  squarely 
facing  the  front  of  the  car  or  the  side  win- 
dows is  to  court  disaster.  The  expert  "strap 
hanger"  stands  with  her  feet  in  a  diagonal  po- 
sition so  that  she  is  braced  against  a  jolt  from 
any  direction.  So  it  is,  in  a  lesser  degree, 
that,  by  withdrawing  the  left  foot  slightly,  a 
firmer  base  is  established  from  which  to  make 
the  concerted  movements  of  the  drive. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  a 
player  can  safely  stand  with  her  left  foot 
drawn  back  to  any  great  extent.  Ten  or 
twelve  inches  would  be  far  too  much  for  the 


132  Golf  for  Women 

average  person  and  would  immediately  cause 
her  to  slice,  unless  she  had  some  personal  pe- 
culiarity of  swing  that  counteracted  the  effect 
of  this  decidedly  open  stance.  It  is  to  avoid 
the  tendency  to  pull  in  the  club  that  may  fol- 
low even  a  slightly  open  stance  that  James 
Sherlock,  "The  New  Book  of  Golf,"  page 
194,  in  speaking  of  his  own  game,  says:  "An- 
other important  point  that  I  have  alluded  to 
is  what  I  have  called  hitting  away  from  you. 
This  is  not  easy  to  explain  on  paper  but  easy 
enough  on  the  golf  course.  .  .  .  Now  if  you 
keep  well  in  your  mind  the  idea  of  hitting 
away,  you  will  be  pretty  certain  to  avoid  the 
hitting  towards;  and  it  is  this  which  is  so  im- 
portant in  driving. 

"I  am  not  afraid  that  many  will  succeed  in 
actually  hitting  past  the  ball,  because  of  the 
stance  and  the  position  of  the  ball,  but  the 
effort  to  do  so  will  invariably  result  in  the 
ball  taking  a  straight  flight. 

"If  this  idea  were  more  generally  under- 
stood and  acted  upon,  chronic  slicing  would 
be  much  less  common  than  it  is." 


The  Wooden  Clubs  133 

This  is  a  practical  hint  that  may  help  some 
player  who  is  slicing  even  when  she  is  stand- 
ing normally.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  be 
led  away  to  the  subject  of  slicing  in  general, 
however,  as  I  am  reserving  that  for  another 
place.  These  remarks  of  Sherlock's  seemed 
to  have  pertinence  here  because  it  is  very 
natural  to  suppose  that,  even  when  the  stance 
is  only  slightly  open  and  the  ball  a  very  little 
in  advance  of  the  player,  there  may  be  a  slight 
inclination  to  draw  the  club  in  across  the  ball's 
intended  line  of  flight.  If  a  player  should 
have  this  feeling,  she  may  do  well  to  keep  in 
mind  Sherlock's  suggestions  about  hitting 
away.  There  can  be  no  legitimate  reason  for 
adopting  the  position  in  which  the  left  foot 
takes  the  lead  and  the  right  foot  is  placed  in 
the  background  when  the  player  wishes  to 
make  a  straight  drive.  That  is,  of  course, 
the  position  for  the  intentional  pull,  but  for 
straight  driving  there  is  nothing  at  all  to  rec- 
ommend it. 

Having  now  arranged  her  feet  to  her  lik- 
ing, the  player  must  see  to  it  that  she  stands 


134  Golf  for  Women 

on  them  properly.  By  that  I  mean  that  the 
weight  must  be  evenly  distributed  between  the 
two  feet  and  that  she  must  not  tilt  forward  on 
her  toes.  If  it  is  impossible  to  reach  the  ball 
comfortably  without  throwing  the  weight 
upon  the  toes,  the  player  must  move  nearer 
the  ball  and  settle  back  a  little  on  her  heels,  or 
at  least  be  sure  that  the  entire  length  of  both 
her  feet  is  firmly  and  flatly  on  the  ground. 
This  is  another  factor  towards  maintaining 
a  steady  base  from  which  to  begin  the  opera- 
tion of  the  drive. 

i 

THE  GRIP 

In  the  chapter  on  putting  I  spoke  at  some 
length  on  the  subject  of  the  grip.  Although 
I  stated  there  that  I  should  strongly  advise 
the  modified  overlapping  grip  for  women,  it 
is  not  imperative  that  women  should  adopt 
this  method  of  holding  the  club,  nor,  in  fact, 
that  they  should  use  any  overlapping  grip  at 
all.  A  great  many  women  have  already 
formed  the  habit  of  holding  the  hands  sep- 
arately and,  if  they  are  doing  well,  there  is 


The  Wooden  Clubs  135 

no  reason  why  they  should  change  and  go 
through  the  uncomfortable  period  of  accus- 
toming themselves  to  another  fashion  of  hold- 
ing the  club.  The  essentials  of  a  good  grip 
are  that  the  hands  be  pressed  closely  together, 
that  the  club  be  held  at  the  base  of  the  fingers 
and  not  in  the  palms  of  the  hands,  and  that 
the  hands  be  held  so  that  the  Vs  formed  by 
the  thumbs  and  first  fingers  are  well  toward 
the  top  of  the  shaft.  If  a  player's  grip  is 
such  that  she  combines  in  it  these  three  essen- 
tial qualities,  she  may  rest  content.  Certainly 
she  should  not  let  any  one  persuade  her  to  at- 
tempt the  Vardon  grip,  as  it  is  extremely 
doubtful  whether  it  is  ever  desirable  for  a 
woman,  and  it  is  surely  not  worth  while  for 
any  one  to  give  up  a  good  and  satisfactory 
grip  in  order  to  cultivate  it. 

While  we  are  speaking  of  the  grip,  another 
aspect  of  the  same  subject  must  not  be  neg- 
lected nor  forgotten.  This  is  the  compara- 
tive strength  of  the  hold  of  the  left  hand  and 
of  the  right  hand.  There  has  been  so  much 
confusion  and  misapprehension  on  this  sub- 


136  Golf  for  Women 

ject  that  few  players  who  have  not  given  it 
especial  thought  can  tell  exactly  what  their 
ideas  on  the  subject  are.  All  through  the 
books  that  have  been  written  on  golf  there 
are  constant  references  to  the  left  hand  as  the 
one  that  must  take  charge  of  the  stroke.  We 
find  frequently  such  remarks  as,  "now  let  the 
left  come  into  play,"  "grip  firmly  with  the 
left  and  allow  the  right  to  relax,"  "in  this 
part  of  the  stroke  the  left  takes  the  lead,  the 
right  acting  simply  as  guide."  There  are, 
in  fact,  so  many  admonitions  of  this  kind  that 
it  would  be  hopeless  as  well  as  unnecessary 
to  hunt  them  all  out  and  to  quote  them  with 
their  context.  In  summing  them  all  up,  how- 
ever, I  may  say  that,  in  rather  an  indefinite 
way,  they  give  one  to  understand  that,  at  cer- 
tain times  and  in  certain  places,  the  right  hand 
gives  up  its  natural  mastery  and  is  superseded 
by  the  left.  The  curious  fact  about  all  of  this 
is  that  when  the  great  players  who  have  writ- 
ten these  books  come  down  to  saying  what 
they  themselves  do,  they  never  admit  that  in 
their  own  game  they  force  the  left  hand  into 


The  Wooden  Clubs  137 

the  place  of  supremacy.  They  will  preface 
their  advice  by  saying  "The  theory  is  ...  ," 
or  "you  should  do  ...  ,"  but  when  it  comes 
to  this  question  of  giving  up  their  own  strong 
right  hands  they  never  say,  "I  do  it." 

This  notion  of  advancing  the  left  hand  into 
unnatural  leadership  has,  in  a  more  or  less 
confused  form,  been  clouding  players'  minds 
for  a  long  time.  The  only  man  to  face  the 
question  and  to  clear  it  away  as  a  question 
once  for  all  has  been  Mr.  P.  A.  Vaile.  In 
"The  Soul  of  Golf"  he  argued  the  point  ex- 
haustively, and  has  completely  routed  those 
persons  who  had  advocated  for  others  the 
favoring  of  the  left  hand.  It  would  be  an 
ideal  condition  for  golf  players  if  both  hands 
were  of  equal  strength  because  in  such  a  case 
it  would  be  much  easier  to  maintain  the 
proper  balance  between  them,  and  the  strokes 
could  be  made  more  evenly  and  smoothly. 
However,  even  if  the  right  hand  and  the  left 
were  of  equal  strength,  the  fact  would  still 
remain  that,  on  account  of  the  anatomical 
arrangements  of  the  arms,  the  left  hand,  at 


138  Golf  for  Women 

the  time  of  hitting  the  ball  when  the  most 
force  is  needed  if  it  is  to  be  a  long  shot,  or 
the  greatest  delicacy  if  it  is  to  be  a  shot  re- 
quiring nice  calculation  of  distance  and  direc- 
tion, is  working  backward.  The  energetic 
housekeeper  who  wishes  to  drive  a  nail  into 
the  wall  certainly  would  not  hold  the  hammer 
in  her  left  hand,  and,  keeping  the  back  of 
her  wrist  to  the  wall,  attempt  to  strike  the 
nail.  If  she  is  a  right-handed  person,  as  I 
am  of  course  supposing  she  is,  the  result  of 
such  an  attempt  would  be  disastrous  to  the 
plaster  if  to  nothing  else.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  with  normally  constituted  persons, 
the  right  hand  is  the  master  hand.  Why, 
then,  anyone  should  try  to  supplant  it  with 
the  left  which  is  not  only  weaker,  but  is  also 
working  at  a  disadvantage,  is  incomprehensi- 
ble. Let  us  once  and  for  all  forget  such  false 
doctrines  and  give  to  each  hand  no  more  and 
no  less  than  its  due.  It  follows,  then,  that  the 
endeavor  of  the  player  should  be  always  to 
grasp  the  club  firmly  with  both  hands,  and  to 


The  Wooden  Clubs  139 

allow  no  thought  of  separating  their  functions 
to  enter  her  mind. 

Nothing  can  be  more  dangerous,  especially 
for  women,  than  heeding  any  instruction  that 
involves  relaxing  the  hold  on  the  club.  In 
putting  or  in  making  a  short  approach  shot 
when  there  is  the  possibility  of  the  ball's  going 
too  far,  it  is  exceedingly  easy  to  allow  the 
club  to  become  loose  in  the  hands.  The 
player  instinctively  feels  that  in  curtailing 
her  shot  she  must  let  up  on  her  grip.  The 
result  is  always  a  weak,  uncertain  stroke  that 
sends  the  ball  anywhere  except  the  place 
where  it  is  expected  to  go.  The  habit  of 
holding  the  club  firmly  with  both  hands  can- 
not be  cultivated  too  soon  or  too  persistently; 
at  the  same  time,  the  player  must  not  fall 
into  the  way  of  clutching  at  the  club  so  rigidly 
that  the  muscles  of  the  wrist  are  stiffened  and 
prevented  from  free  action.  Men  such  as 
Vardon  and  Braid  may  be  able  to  allow  them- 
selves the  freedom  of  relaxing  their  grip  now 
and  then,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 


140  Golf  for  Women 

what  they  would  consider  a  light  hold  on  the 
club  is,  when  one  remembers  the  strength  of 
their  hands  and  fingers,  as  firm  as  the  aver- 
age woman's  tightest  grip.  Relaxation  of 
the  muscles,  except  in  unusual  cases,  means, 
for  a  woman,  looseness  of  hold  and  should  be 
avoided  from  the  start  to  the  finish  of  her 
game. 

There  are  so  many  preliminaries  to  this 
wonderful  operation  of  driving  a  golf  ball 
that  it  is  no  wonder  that,  by  the  time  a  player 
has  gone  through  all  the  stages  of  making 
ready  for  the  stroke,  she  finds  it  impossible 
to  concentrate  her  mind  on  hitting  the  ball. 
It  is  inability  to  fix  her  thoughts  entirely  on 
the  act  of  hitting  that,  at  the  last  minute, 
spoils  many  a  carefully  arranged  shot.  The 
only  way  to  overcome  the  distracting  effect 
of  preparation  is  to  make  the  preparation  be- 
come automatic.  This  can  be  done  only  after 
long  practice.  It  takes  a  very  experienced 
player  to  tee  her  ball,  look  toward  the  hole, 
decide  how  long  a  shot  and  what  kind  of  a 
stroke  she  must  make,  take  her  stance  and 


MISS  CECIL  LEITH 
Playing  a  niblick  shot  from  the  rough. 


The  Wooden  Clubs  141 

make  her  address,  without  allowing  one  doubt 
or  one  question  to  enter  her  mind  that  will 
distract  her  attention  from  hitting  the  ball. 
The  self-confidence  that  allows  a  player  to  tee 
up  her  ball  and  hit  it,  without  showing  a 
trace  of  hesitancy  or  uncertainty,  can  be  ac- 
quired only  by  having  thought  over  and  prac- 
ticed previously  all  the  movements  that  make 
the  shot  up -to  the  time  the  club  begins  its 
downward  journey  to  the  ball.  It  is  only 
by  having  settled  all  questions  to  her  satis- 
faction and  by  repeating  certain  motions  so 
many  times  that  they  become  mechanical,  that 
the  player  can  reach  the  point  of  proficiency 
where  she  can  free  her  thoughts  of  all  com- 
plications and  give  her  whole  mind  to  striking 
the  ball. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  it  is  profitable  to 
study  the  preliminaries  to  the  drive  one  by 
one,  and  in  their  correct  order,  so  that  they 
may  be  settled  when  the  player's  mind  is  not 
under  the  tension  that  the  necessity  of  ac- 
tion creates.  We  have  already  considered  the 
stance  and  the  grip,  and  now  we  reach 


142  Golf  for  Women 

the  next  step,  which  is  the  method  of  ad- 
dress. 

THE  ADDRESS 

As  the  center  of  the  face  of  the  club  is  the 
point  at  which  it  is  destined  to  meet  the  ball, 
the  club  should  be  placed  in  such  a  position 
that  its  face  meets  the  ball  at  this  spot.  The 
sole  of  the  club  should  be  fairly  on  the 
ground.  If  the  club  does  not  fall  into  this 
position  easily  and  naturally,  there  is  some- 
thing wrong  either  with  the  lie  of  the  club 
or  with  the  way  in  which  the  player  is  stand- 
ing or  holding  her  hands.  The  fault  should 
be  observed  and  immediately  corrected.  It 
is  of  great  importance  that  the  ball  should  be 
addressed  truly,  as  it  is  hopeless  to  believe 
that  a  fault  in  the  address  can  consciously  be 
corrected  as  the  club  is  descending  to  the  ball. 

George  Duncan,  Article  II,  "Golf  Illus- 
trated," says:  "The  hands  must  be  in  a 
straight  line  with  the  ball  and  the  toe  of  the 
club  immediately  behind  the  center  of  the 
ball,"  and  again  in  the  following  article  he 


The  Wooden  Clubs  143 

states:  "After  addressing  the  ball  correctly 
with  the  toe  of  the  club  behind  the  center  of 
the  ball,  and  the  hands  in  a  line  with  the  ball 
(as  explained  in  a  previous  article) ,  the  player 
is  ready  to  make  the  up-swing."  As  a  matter 
of  fact  he  did  not  explain  in  the  previous  art- 
ticle  why  he  advocates  addressing  the  ball  with 
the  toe  of  the  club;  all  he  said  about  it  is  what 
I  have  quoted.  His  explanation,  if  he  had 
made  one,  would  have  been  interesting  because 
we  cannot  help  wondering  why  he  would  rec- 
ommend for  general  adoption  this  rather  ir- 
regular style  of  address.  It  is  true  that  a 
great  many  players  do  address  the  ball  with 
the  toe  of  the  club,  but  to  imitate  them  with- 
out reason  would  be  extremely  foolish.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  players  who  lay  the 
toe  of  the  club  back  of  the  ball  are  using  one 
fault  to  correct  another.  They  have  prob- 
ably found  that,  when  they  address  the  ball 
truly,  they  come  back  to  it  with  the  heel 
of  the  club,  and  to  avoid  doing  this  they  begin 
-the  shot  with  the  club  pulled  in  a  little.  Hit- 
ting with  the  heel  is  a  common  fault  and  is 


144  Golf  for  Women 

due  to  one  of  two  things ;  either  the  player  lets 
out  a  little,  and,  on  the  downward  swing,  al- 
lows the  club's  head  to  describe  a  larger  arc 
than  it  did  on  the  up-swing,  or  she  sways  her 
whole  body  forward  as  she  brings  the  club 
down.  Lurching  or  leaning  forward  is  a  bad 
fault  and  should  be  Corrected  at  once.  The 
letting  out  of  the  arms  on  the  downward 
swing  is  the  result  of  the  player's  determined 
effort  to  hit  the  ball.  As  she  carries  the  club 
up  she  is  using  some  caution,  as  the  club  comes 
down  the  one  thought  is  to  hit  the  ball  and  hit 
it  hard;  it  is  almost  inevitable  that  the  arms 
should  go  out  a  little  and  that  the  head  of  the 
club  should  come  through  a  little  farther  away 
from  the  player  than  it  did  on  its  slower  up- 
ward journey.  If  the  player  finds  that  she 
is  doing  this,  and  that,  otherwise,  her  swing 
is  all  that  it  ought  to  be,  she  may  permit  her- 
self to  counteract  this  defect  by  addressing 
the  ball  with  the  toe  of  the  club.  She  should 
not,  however,  be  too  ready  to  adopt  this  style 
of  address,  and  should  resort  to  it  only  as  the 
last  expedient  when  she  feels  quite  sure  that 


The  Wooden  Clubs  145 

it  is  the  only  way  by  which  she  can  be  sure  of 
meeting  the  ball  squarely. 

The  complete  swing  of  the  golf  drive  is, 
from  the  viewpoint  of  mechanics,  one  of  the 
most  curious  feats  that  a  player  has  been  set 
to  accomplish  in  any  game  involving  a  ball 
and  an  implement  for  hitting.  Theoretically, 
we  have  here  the  object  that  is  destined  to 
strike  the  blow  describing  a  full  circle,  or, 
more  correctly  speaking,  a  circle  and  a  half, 
and  at  only  one  instant  is  it  in  the 
line  of  the  ball's  intended  flight.  It  is 
to  this  unusual  situation  that  the  great  dif- 
ficulty of  driving  straightly  and  truly  is 
attributable.  In  all  the  club's  journey,  as 
it  completes  one  circle  and  laps  half-way  over 
on  a  second,  there  is  only  one  point  at  which  it 
may  meet  the  ball.  Surely,  the  margin  for 
error  is  very  great,  so  great  that  the  player 
helps  herself  a  little  by  starting  the  club's 
head  back  parallel  to  the  ground  for  a  few 
inches  in  the  hope  that  it  will  return  in  the 
same  way,  and,  after  the  ball  has  been  struck, 
allows  the  club  and  the  body  to  follow  after 


146  Golf  for  Women 

the  ball.  By  doing  this  a  little  of  the  curve  of 
the  circular  swing  is  removed,  but  not  enough 
to  relieve  the  player  from  using  the  greatest 
care  throughout  the  whole  stroke. 

THE  SWING 

Let  us  now  follow  the  club  on  its  journey; 
back  from  the  ball  it  starts,  not  rising 
abruptly,  but  keeping  close  to  the  ground 
and  in  the  line  from  hole  to  ball  produced 
for  a  little  way,  then  ascending  until  it  has 
reached  its  highest  point,  and  from  there  de- 
scending above  the  player's  shoulders  until 
it  reaches  such  a  place  that  its  shaft  is  parallel 
to  the  ground  and  its  toe  is  pointing  down- 
ward. So  much  for  the  course  of  the  upward 
swing.  The  speed  at  which  it  should  be 
made  must  be  carefully  regulated.  To  go 
back  too  slowly  makes  a  sluggish  shot,  to  go 
back  too  quickly  leads  to  over-swinging  and 
forces  the  player  to  exert  too  much  energy  in 
starting  the  club  back  again.  As  usual,  a 
happy  medium  must  be  found. 

In  the  downward  stroke  the  club  should 


The  Wooden  Clubs  147 

retrace  its  course,  gathering  speed  as  it  de- 
scends and  until  the  ball  is  struck.  Once  the 
ball  is  away,  the  club  follows  for  a  short  space, 
then  rises  until  it  is  once  again  over  the 
player's  shoulders,  and  thus  its  circle  and  a 
half  is  finished.  If  describing  circles  with 
the  head  of  the  club  were  all  that  is  neces- 
sary, the  golf  drive  would,  indeed,  be  a  very 
simple  thing.  But  there  is  a  great  deal  more 
involved  in  it  than  that.  The  arms,  legs, 
body,  and  weight  must  be  managed  in  such 
a  way  that,  at  the  moment  the  club  hits  the 
ball,  all  of  the  player's  available  strength  is 
behind  the  blow.  To  accomplish  this  requires 
the  most  careful  adjustment  of  all  the  play- 
er's various  motions,  so  that  they  may  be 
made  in  absolute  harmony  with  each  other. 
When  so  many  parts  of  the  body  are  moving 
simultaneously,  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  fol- 
low the  action  of  each  one  in  connection  with 
every  other  one.  For  that  reason  it  is  an 
easier  task  to  show  a  player  how  to  use  her 
arms  and  legs  and  how  to  turn  her  body  than 
it  is  to  tell  her  about  it  in  writing.  However, 


148  Golf  for  Women 

we  will  not  let  such  an  annoyance  as  the  lim- 
itations of  the  English  language,  or  our  own 
imperfect  use  of  it,  disturb  us  at  this  time,  but 
we  shall  bravely  return  to  our  player  while 
she  is  addressing  her  ball,  and  try  to  follow 
her  subsequent  actions  as  best  we  may. 

The  preparatory  motions  that  the  player 
goes  through  in  order  to  drive  her  ball  have 
frequently  been  called  a  system  of  "winding 
up."  Whatever  the  name  is,  the  action  must 
be  started  immediately  after  the  club  leaves 
the  ball.  By  the  time  the  club  head  is  a  very 
short  distance  on  its  upward  journey,  the  left 
knee  must  begin  to  bend  and  the  heel  come 
away  from  the  ground.  The  forearms  turn 
naturally,  as  the  club  goes  up,  and  the  body 
twists  at  the  waist.  The  elbows  are  kept 
down  and  as  close  to  the  body  as  is  compatible 
with  freedom  of  movement.  As  the  club 
nears  the  top  of  its  swing  the  wrists  come 
under  the  club  and  the  weight  of  the  club 
falls  across  them.  When  the  club  has  reached 
its  momentary  pause  at  the  top  of  the  swing, 
the  left  shoulder  should  be  pointing  toward 


The  Wooden  Clubs  149 

the  ball,  the  left  knee  bent  forward,  the  heel 
raised  so  that  the  weight  falls  across  the  ball 
of  the  foot,  the  right  leg  should  be  stiff,  the 
right  foot  firmly  planted  on  the  ground,  and 
the  head  should  be  absolutely  steady  and  in 
the  same  position  that  it  was  when  the  player 
was  making  the  address. 

Now  the  "unwinding"  process  begins  as 
the  club  starts  on  its  return  path.  Whatever 
anyone  may  say  to  the  contrary,  it  is  the  turn 
of  the  body  that  starts  the  club  on  the  down- 
ward stroke.  This  is  a  matter  of  vital  im- 
portance which  has  not  received  the  recogni- 
tion that  it  justly  merits  in  any  book  on  the 
game  that  I  have  read. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  it  is 
the  body  that  takes  the  lead  from  the  top  of 
the  swing.  So  quickly  does  the  action  of  one 
set  of  muscles  follow  another  that  the  eye  is 
hardly  quick  enough  to  perceive  which  it  is 
that  starts  the  club  on  its  downward  course. 
If  we  consider  for  an  instant  the  action  of 
the  body  of  a  boxer,  a  bowler,  a  weight 
thrower,  a  tennis  player,  we  shall  see  that  in 


150  Golf  for  Women 

each  of  these  cases,  where  strength  is  re- 
quired, the  hody  comes  in  first.  It  is  the 
weight  and  strength  of  the  body  that  backs 
the  arms  and  enables  them  to  develop  the 
necessary  force. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  starting 
of  the  club  on  the  downward  stroke  the  arms 
begin  to  unflex  at  the  elbows  which,  of  course, 
is  where  the  main  speed  of  the  stroke  is  de- 
veloped. Much  has  been  written  about  the 
wrist  action  in  the  downward  swing.  To  at- 
tempt to  tell  anyone  about  this  in  writing  or 
even  to  show  it  with  club  in  hands  would  be 
futile,  for  that  which  is  so  commonly  mis- 
called wrist  action  is  merely  another  name  for 
the  unrolling  or  unwinding  of  the  forearms 
which  is  spread  gradually  and  insensibly  over 
the  whole  of  the  downward  stroke  so  that  they 
absolutely  reverse  the  process  through  which 
they  went  in  the  upward  swing. 

As  the  arms  begin  their  action,  the  left  knee 
straightens,  the  right  knee  bends,  the  right 
heel  leaves  the  ground,  and,  as  the  ball  is 
struck,  the  whole  body  follows  the  club  so  that 


MISS  MARIOX  HOLLINS 
Top  of  swing  in  short  approach  shot. 


The  Wooden  Clubs  151 

the  left  leg  receives  nearly  all  the  weight  and 
the  right  foot  comes  up  onto  the  toe. 

The  foregoing  is  a  brief  statement  of  the 
movements  necessary  to  making  the  drive. 
They  are  not  in  themselves  so  complicated 
that  any  person  with  ordinary  suppleness  of 
body  and  limbs  need  have  any  trouble  in  ac- 
complishing them.  The  difficulty  lies,  how- 
ever, in  the  fact  that,  while  keeping  the  head 
steady  and  the  eyes  fixed  on  the  ball,  the 
player  must  so  co-ordinate  all  these  actions 
that  they  are  brought  into  perfect  rhythm, 
and  that  their  cumulative  effect  must  be  regu- 
lated so  that,  at  the  instant  the  ball  is  struck, 
the  player  is  exerting  her  greatest  strength. 
To  do  this  is  to  "time"  the  stroke  correctly. 

TIMING  THE   STROKE 

This  expression,  "timing"  the  stroke,  is  very 
vague  and  indefinite  unless  the  player  knows 
exactly  what  it  means.  One  frequently  hears 
it  used  quite  wrongly,  probably  because  the 
word  does  not  in  itself  suggest  what  it  stands 
for  in  this  connection.  In  order  that  it  may 


152  Golf  for  Women 

be  quite  clear  what  actions  this  word  has  been 
selected  to  represent,  I  shall  add  Braid's  defi- 
nition to  what  I  have  already  said.  On  page 
59  of  "Advanced  Golf,"  he  says:  "In  broad 
principle,  timing,  of  course,  is  the  mainte- 
nance of  perfect  and  scientific  harmony  be- 
tween the  movements  of  the  head  of  the  club 
and  the  shaft  on  the  one  hand,  and  those  of 
the  arms  and  the  body  on  the  other.  .  .  . 
The  chief  object  of  the  timing,  simply  stated, 
is  to  make  the  moment  of  impact  and  the  at- 
tainment of  the  supreme  force  of  the  swing 
simultaneous,  and  the  great  danger  is  lest  the 
swing,  wound  up  under  such  high  tension  as 
we  have  seen,  should  go  off  too  soon,  so  to 
speak." 

Certainly,  each  player  should  make  it  her 
earnest  effort  to  time  her  stroke  correctly. 
To  do  so  is  the  only  course  by  which  she  can 
hope  to  become  proficient  at  driving,  but  she 
must  be  very  careful  to  make  the  timing  of 
the  stroke  the  result  of  the  development  of 
all  her  movements  toward  one  end,  the  hit- 


The  Wooden  Vlubs  153 

ting  of  the  ball.  To  attempt  to  do  anything 
at  the  last  instant  just  before  the  moment  of 
impact  is  very  unwise,  if,  indeed,  it  is  not 
impossible.  Players  have  been  advised  time 
after  time  to  "Speed  up"  the  swing  during 
its  last  foot  or  so  before  reaching  the  ball, 
or  to  do  something  of  a  "snappy"  nature  with 
their  wrists  at  the  instant  of  hitting.  Just 
how  these  things  are  to  be  done  no  one  has 
made  at  all  clear  for  the  very  simple  reason 
that  they  are  not  done  at  all.  By  this  I  mean 
that  they  are  not  done  in  the  last  fraction  of 
a  second  before  the  ball  is  struck.  If,  as  is 
the  case,  the  club,  as  it  travels  through  the 
lower  part  of  its  arc,  is  going  at  such  speed 
that  when  photographed  with  a  camera  whose 
shutter  is  of  the  very  fastest  type,  it  becomes 
a  blur,  then  it  would  clearly  be  impossible 
for  a  player  to  put  on  extra  speed  during  the 
last  foot  or  to  "snap"  it  by  jerking  her  wrists. 
In  other  words,  the  player  cannot  start  any 
action  in  the  last  fraction  of  a  second  and 
keep  the  club  head  in  its  proper  arc.  What- 


154  Golf  for  Women 

ever  is  done  immediately  before  the  impact  of 
club  and  ball  must  be  the  natural  sequence 
of  her  previous  actions. 

THE  ACTION   OF  THE  WRISTS 

The  consideration  of  the  action  of  the 
wrists  during  the  drive  is  very  important,  not 
only  on  account  of  what  they  must  do  but, 
also,  on  account  of  what  they  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  accomplish.  Strong  and  supple 
wrists  are  a  great  asset  to  a  golf  player,  but 
they  must  not  be  called  upon  to  act  in  any 
way  independently.  While  the  club  is  going 
back  they  turn  at  the  same  time  that  the  fore- 
arms roll  over,  until  at  the  top  of  the  swing 
they  are  bent  toward  each  other  under  the 
shaft  of  the  club  and  the  weight  of  the  club 
crosses  them  sideways,  or,  in  the  way  they 
bend  least  easily.  As  the  club  comes  down, 
their  action  is  reversed  so  that  when  the  club 
head  reaches  the  ball  they  are  in  the  same 
position  as  they  were  at  the  start.  If  they 
do  not  come  back  to  their  original  position  the 
ball  will  not  be  hit  truly,  therefore  any 


The  Wooden  Clubs  155 

thought  of  jerking  or  snapping  that  the 
player  may  have  been  harboring  in  her  mind 
will,  if  put  into  execution,  pull  the  hands  out 
of  position  and  spoil  the  shot.  On  the  other 
hand,  rigid  and  inflexible  wrists  are  bad  be- 
cause they  stiffen  the  swing  with  the  result 
that  the  ball  does  not  go  the  distance  that  the 
player  is  justified  in  expecting  of  it.  In  or- 
der to  get  a  long  ball  the  whole  body  from  the 
ankles  to  the  wrists  must  be  under  perfect 
command. 

IRON   CLUBS   FOE  DRIVING 

If  the  player  believes  that  the  length  of  her 
regular  drive  will  carry  the  ball  too  far,  it  is 
better  for  her  to  use  another  club,  possibly 
her  cleek  or  her  mid-iron,  than  to  try  to  curtail 
the  length  of  her  swing.  In  this  respect  she 
must  regard  her  driver  in  a  different  light 
from  her  iron  clubs.  I  have  said  several  times 
in  previous  chapters  that  it  is  unwise  to  force 
a  shot  with  a  club  when  it  is  possible  to  use  a 
half  or  three-quarter  swing  with  some  other 
club  that  is  capable  of  greater  distance.  To 


156  Golf  for  Women 

give  a  concrete  example:  if  the  distance  to 
be  covered  by  an  approach  shot  is  the  exact 
limit  of  what  the  mashie  will  do,  it  is  better 
to  take  a  mid-iron  and  use  a  shorter  swing. 
All  shots  made  with  a  driver,  however,  should 
be  forced.  This  may  seem  an  extreme  state- 
ment, but  a  moment's  consideration  will,  I 
believe,  prove  it  correct.  The  drive  is,  as  we 
have  seen,  a  complicated  shot  requiring  the 
nicest  co-operation  of  arms,  legs,  and  body. 
In  order  to  get  all  these  members  working  to- 
gether in  harmony,  it  is  necessary  for  each  one 
to  do  its  full  part.  If  a  player  wishes  to 
make  a  shorter  shot  than  usual,  the  swing 
must  be  shortened;  it  follows,  then,  that  each 
movement  must  be  correspondingly  reduced. 
Here  lies  the  great  difficulty.  When  a 
player  thinks  she  must  lessen  a  certain  group 
of  actions  it  is  probable  that  she  will  leave 
out  some  one  action  entirely.  The  idea  of 
making  a  three-quarter  shot  with  the  driver 
will  work  out  in  her  standing  stock  still  and 
doing  all  the  work  with  her  arms,  or  in  her 
pivoting  with  her  body  and  holding  her  arms 


The  Wooden  Clubs  157 

as  stiff  as  sticks.  The  fault  of  omission  may 
be  any  one  of  several,  but  it  is  certain  that 
she  will  leave  out  something  and,  in  spoiling 
the  harmony  of  her  swing,  she  will  spoil  the 
efficacy  of  her  shot.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  I  am  not  speaking  for  men  players ;  they 
must  manage  as  suits  them  best,  but  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that,  while  making  a  drive,  a 
woman  must  be  "hard  at  it"  all  the  time. 

OVERSWINGING 

In  order  not  to  waste  any  strength  it  is 
necessary  to  guard  against  overswinging. 
If  the  club  head  is  allowed  to  drop  behind 
the  shoulders  so  that  the  shaft  is  carried  be- 
yond its  normal  position  parallel  to  the 
ground,  a  certain  amount  of  force  is  required 
to  bring  it  up  again,  and  this  force  is  sadly 
misplaced.  A  woman  needs  all  her  energy 
for  the  downward  swing,  and  it  is  extravagant 
to  waste  any  of  her  somewhat  limited  supply 
in  struggling  with  the  club  somewhere  behind 
her  back.  Overswinging  is  usually  caused 
by  the  player's  relaxing  her  grip  at  the  top 


158  Golf  for  Women 

of  the  swing.  As  the  hands  loosen  their  hold, 
the  club  head  drops  toward  the  ground,  with 
the  result  that  the  player  must  then  tighten 
her  grip  and  pull  it  up  into  position.  It  is 
very  easy  to  fall  into  this  bad  habit,  so  easy, 
in  fact,  that  many  players  regularly  over- 
swing  without  being  aware  that  they  are  doing 
so.  The  cure  is,  of  course,  to  keep  a  firm 
hold  of  the  club  and  to  cultivate  the  "feel" 
of  the  proper  position  at  the  top  of  the  swing 
by  practicing,  preferably  under  the  observa- 
tion of  some  other  person. 

RELAXING   THE   GRIP 

Whether  or  not  it  is  advisable  ever  to  relax 
the  grip  of  the  right  hand  at  the  top  of  the 
swing  depends  upon  the  personal  peculiar- 
ities of  the  individual.  If  a  player  is  suffi- 
ciently supple  to  make  a  full  swing  without 
loosening  her  right  hand,  it  is  far  better  that 
she  should  do  so.  However,  if  the  player  ex- 
periences difficulty  in  getting  the  club  around 
properly,  she  may  perhaps  relax  the  hold  of 
her  right  hand  a  trifle,  but  must  maintain  her 


The  Wooden  Clubs  159 

grip  with  her  thumb  and  forefinger.  Imme- 
diately the  club  begins  to  rise  she  must  resume 
her  hold  with  all  her  fingers  or  she  will  lose 
control  of  the  club  on  its  downward  journey. 
From  the  moment  the  club  begins  its  down- 
ward swing  the  player  must  concentrate  all 
her  strength  in  order  to  hit  the  ball  effectually. 
She  must  not  clutch  at  her  club,  nor  make 
any  violent  or  untoward  movement,  but,  fol- 
lowing the  sequence  of  actions  that  she  has 
already  planned  for  herself,  she  must  carry 
them  out  with  all  the  energy  of  which  she  is 
capable.  She  must  not  let  up  for  a  fraction 
of  a  second  until  the  ball  is  clear  away  and 
her  club  is  well  beyond  the  place  where  the 
ball  lay. 

THE  FOLLOW  THROUGH 

Even  after  the  ball  has  been  hit,  however, 
the  player  is  not  relieved  of  all  responsibility. 
The  follow-through  is  a  very  important  part 
of  the  shot.  Not  that  anything  that  the 
player  or  her  club  can  do  can  in  any  way 
affect  the  ball  once  it  has  begun  its  flight 


160  Golf  for  Women 

through  the  air,  but,  by  a  posteriori  reasoning, 
if  the  follow-through  is  correct  then  the  swing 
of  the  club  up  to  the  time  it  hit  the  ball  must 
have  been  correct.  The  action  of  the  club 
after  the  ball  has  been  struck  completes  the 
swing  and  makes  the  act  of  driving  a  rhythmic 
and  harmonious  whole.  As  I  have  said  be- 
fore, in  its  practical  demonstration  the  course 
of  the  club's  head  is  not  a  perfect  circle.  Im- 
mediately after  the  moment  of  impact  of  club 
and  ball  the  player  continues  the  transference 
of  her  weight  to  the  left  leg,  and  allows  her 
club  and  her  body  to  follow  after  the  ball  as 
far  as  possible  without  disturbing  her  balance. 
As  the  arms  arrive  at  the  limit  of  their  reach 
the  club  rises  naturally  and  ends  its  journey 
by  coming  to  rest  over  the  player's  left 
shoulder.  A  fine,  free  follow-through  is  the 
necessary  finish  to  a  good  drive  and  should  be 
carefully  cultivated. 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  WEIGHT 

After  the  player  has  learned  to  go  through 
all  the  motions  of  the  drive  correctly,  there  is 


MRS.  ANTHONY  J.  DREXEL 
Finish  of  a  drive. 


The  Wooden  Clubs  161 

still  another  point  to  be  considered  and  that 
is  the  way  in  which  her  weight  is  distributed 
during  the  making  of  the  swing.  If  she 
stands,  and  uses  her  feet  and  arms  in  a  proper 
manner,  there  will  not  be  any  question  about 
her  weight ;  it  will  take  care  of  itself.  How- 
ever, there  have  been  innumerable  discussions 
on  the  subject  and  every  conceivable  sugges- 
tion has  been  offered  as  to  where  the  weight 
should  be  at  certain  points  of  the  swing.  So  it 
seems  necessary  that  the  final  conclusion  of 
those  who  know  best  should  be  stated  here. 
This  conclusion,  to  put  it  in  its  briefest  form, 
is  that  during  the  swing  and  up  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  follow-through  there  is  very  little, 
if  any,  transference  of  weight  from  one  foot 
to  the  other. 

The  player  takes  her  stance  with  her  weight 
equally  divided  between  her  two  feet.  If  she 
does  not  draw  away  from  the  ball,  or,  in  other 
words,  if  she  keeps  her  head  still,  as  she  is 
strictly  bidden  to  do,  how  can  she  move  her 
weight  to  her  right  foot?  Yet  we  are  told 
many  times  that  during  the  up-swing  the 


162  Golf  for  Women 

weight  is  chiefly  on  the  right  foot.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  try  a  little  experiment  to  decide  this 
for  oneself.  By  dropping  a  string  across  a 
fairly  large  mirror  and  standing  before  it  so 
that  the  string  bisects  the  reflected  image 
through  the  forehead,  nose  and  chin,  and  then 
going  through  the  motion  of  swinging  a  club, 
it  is  possible  to  find  out  just  how  much  extra 
weight  can  be  put  onto  the  right  foot  without 
moving  the  head.  In  making  this  experiment 
the  tightening  of  the  muscles  of  the  right  leg 
from  torsional  strain  must  not  be  mistaken  for 
a  sign  that  they  are  carrying  weight.  A  few 
swings  made  by  a  player  arranged  before  a 
mirror  in  this  way,  will,  I  believe,  convince 
her  of  the  fact  that  her  weight  cannot  be 
shifted  to  any  noticeable  extent,  provided  she 
keeps  her  head  still.  It  is  possible  that,  as 
the  arms  and  the  club  are  to  the  right  of  the 
player's  body  midway  in  the  upward  and 
downward  swing,  they  change  the  center  of 
balance  slightly,  but  the  change  would  be  so 
little  as  to  be  practically  negligible. 

Now  as  the  club  reaches  the  top  of  its  swing, 


The  Wooden  Clubs  163 

the  left  knee  has  bent  forward  and,  on  ac- 
count of  the  pull  of  the  twisted  torso,  has  the 
appearance  of  bending  slightly  inward.  Al- 
though the  head  has  not  moved,  the  left  leg 
has  come  in  under  the  body  and  therefore  it 
is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  at  this  time  it 
is  bearing  a  little  more  than  its  half  of  the 
player's  weight. 

As  the  club  descends  and  the  shoulders 
swing  around  and  the  body  is  returning  again 
toward  the  ball,  the  left  leg  straightens  and 
the  weight  is  once  more  divided  between  the 
two  feet.  When  once  the  ball  is  struck,  how- 
ever, the  whole  body  moves  after  it  and  the 
weight  is  practically  all  thrown  onto  the  left 
foot. 

Although  I  have  said  that,  during  the 
course  of  the  upward  swing  and  the  downward 
swing,  the  weight  may  be  a  very  little  more 
upon  the  right  foot  than  the  left,  it  would  be  a 
fatal  error  for  the  player  to  attempt  in  any 
way  to  transfer  her  weight  to  the  right  foot. 
To  do  so  would  surely  result  in  her  drawing 
away  from  the  ball,  moving  her  head,  and  all 


164  Golf  for  Women 

the  subsequent  disasters.  It  is  far  the  best 
plan  for  a  player  to  take  her  stance  with  her 
weight  evenly  divided  between  her  two  feet 
and  to  resolve  to  keep  her  head  still  and  her 
eye  on  the  ball;  if  she  can  stick  to  this  course 
until  she  hits  the  ball  she  may  forget  all  about 
her  weight  and  rest  assured  it  will  look  after 
itself. 

SLICING 

Probably  the  most  common  fault  of  be- 
ginners is  slicing  the  ball.  Although  I  say 
that  this  is  a  fault  of  beginners,  it  is  by  no 
means  confined  to  them.  Even  experienced 
players  suffer  from  attacks  of  slicing  and, 
once  a  player  falls  into  the  habit,  it  is  very 
difficult  to  overcome  the  faults  that  are  at  the 
root  of  this  evil.  There  is  something  particu- 
larly discouraging  about  a  sliced  ball.  The 
player,  full  of  confidence  in  herself,  makes  her 
shot  and  feels  that  all  is  going  well,  when,  on 
looking  after  her  ball,  she  sees  it  suddenly 
leave  its  straight  line  of  flight,  curve  off  to  the 
right,  and,  dropping  rather  abruptly,  roll  aim- 


The  Wooden  Clubs  165 

lessly  a  little  way,  and  come  to  rest  generally 
in  some  very  undesirable  spot.  When  a  player 
tops  her  ball,  she  knows  it  the  instant  she 
hears  the  sound  of  the  impact,  and  she  is  not 
at  all  surprised  to  see  the  ball  skipping  along 
over  the  grass  instead  of  soaring  in  the  air. 
At  the  same  time  she  realizes  that  she  has 
raised  her  head,  or  has  taken  her  eye  off  the 
ball,  or  has  hit  the  ground  with  her  club  and 
caught  the  ball  as  the  club  came  up ;  whatever 
the  cause  of  her  bad  shot  may  be,  she  can 
identify  it  and  guard  against  repeating  the 
error  another  time.  When  a  player  is  slicing, 
however,  she  is  apt  to  have  a  helpless  and 
hopeless  feeling  because  the  reason  that  she  is 
doing  it  is  not  so  evident  as  it  is  when  she 
tops  her  ball,  and  she  is  apt  to  keep  on  slicing 
drive  after  drive  without  being  able  to  cor- 
rect her  fault. 

If  a  player  finds  she  is  slicing  frequently, 
she  should  take  a  box  of  balls  to  the  practice 
ground  and  engage  a  professional  teacher  to 
show  her  where  she  is  in  error  and  how  to  cor- 
rect her  mistakes.  If  a  teacher  is  not  avail- 


166  Golf  for  Women 

able  and  she  is  obliged  to  work  out  her  diffi- 
culties for  herself,  she  will  probably  find  on 
analyzing  her  swing  that  she  is  either  bring- 
ing her  hands  through  in  advance  of  the  head 
of  the  club,  or  that  she  is  allowing  the  club 
head  to  go  outside  of  the  line  between  hole  and 
ball  produced  and,  consequently,  bringing  the 
club  head  in  across  the  ball  so  that  its  face 
meets  the  ball  with  a  glancing  blow. 

The  first  of  these  faults  is  caused  by  start- 
ing the  hands  ahead  of  the  body  at  the  top 
of  the  swing.  When  the  player  starts  the 
club  on  its  downward  course,  she  has  prob- 
ably had  some  lurking  and  mistaken  notions 
about  using  her  wrists.  It  follows,  then,  that 
the  head  of  the  club  has  been  lagging  behind 
all  the  way  so  that,  when  it  meets  the  ball, 
the  line  from  toe  to  heel  is  not  perpendicular 
to  the  ball's  intended  line  of  flight.  The  fact 
that  the  face  of  the  club  does  not  meet  the  ball 
squarely  results  in  the  ball's  starting  on  its 
journey  with  side  spin,  which,  when  the  force 
of  the  forward  blow  slackens,  causes  it  to  turn 
abruptly  to  the  right.  The  other  fault  that 


The  Wooden  Clubs  167 

results  in  slicing  is  much  more  difficult  to 
correct.  The  arc  of  the  club's  swing  may  ex- 
tend beyond  the  line  before  the  ball  is  hit 
either  because  the  stance  is  wrong  or  be- 
cause the  player  leans  forward  while  mak- 
ing the  downward  swing,  or  because  she  lets 
out  her  arms,  or  because,  after  she  addressed 
the  ball,  she  did  not  carry  the  club  back  in 
a  proper  line.  It  is,  first  of  all,  necessary 
to  find  out  which  of  these  faults  is  being 
committed,  and  then  the  player  can  make  such 
changes  in  her  method  as  will  correct  it. 

There  is  a  very  simple  device  that  a  player, 
who  is  struggling  alone  to  correct  her  faults 
of  swing,  may  find  helpful.  I  offer  it  merely 
as  a  suggestion  and  anyone  who  cares  to  try 
it  can  soon  find  whether  or  not  it  will  be  of 
use  to  her.  The  plan  is  to  take  a  few  short 
twigs  and  plant  them  about  two  inches  apart 
and  in  a  straight  line,  beginning  an  inch  or  so 
beyond  the  ball  and  continuing  back  parallel 
to  the  line  from  hole^to  ball  projected,  until 
a  fence  a  foot  long  is  constructed.  The 
player  should  then  forget  her  little  fence  and 


168  Golf  for  Women 

make  her  usual  swing,  keeping  her  eye  faith- 
fully on  the  ball.  If,  in  the  course  of  the 
club's  downward  swing,  the  twigs  are  knocked 
over,  it  is  proof  that  the  player  is  reaching 
beyond  the  ball.  By  patiently  rebuilding  the 
fence  time  after  time,  the  player  can  accustom 
herself  to  keeping  her  club  head  in  the  proper 
line  and  thus  overcome  her  tendency  to  slice. 

PULLING 

Pulling  the  ball  is  not  nearly  so  common  a 
fault  as  slicing,  if,  indeed,  it  may  be  called  a 
fault  at  all.  The  pulled  ball  travels  well  and 
will  roll  a  considerable  distance.  Some  ex- 
pert players  habitually  aim  to  the  right  and 
play  every  drive  for  a  pull  in  the  belief  that 
by  doing  so  they  get  a  more  reliable  ball  than 
they  do  with  a  straight  drive.  Pulling  as 
a  fault  can  be  remedied  generally  by  a  change 
in  stance.  If  a  player  stands  with  her  left 
foot  well  back,  it  is  practically  impossible  to 
pull  the  ball.  It  is  evident  that  when  a  player 
takes  her  position  with  her  right  foot  drawn 
back  and  her  left  in  advance,  her  body  is 


The  Wooden  Clubs  169 

turned  in  such  a  way  that  it  is  easy,  if  not 
necessary,  to  carry  the  club  out  across  the  ball. 
This  is  the  puller's  stance  and  may  be  cor- 
rected when  the  player  finds  she  is  getting 
more  pull  on  her  ball  than  she  desires. 

I  shall  not  speak  of  the  intentional  pull  and 
slice  at  this  time.  I  will  reserve  discussion  of 
those  strokes  until  later  when  I  shall  take  up 
various  special  shots. 

THE   BRASSIE 

Although  the  heading  of  this  chapter  con- 
tains the  words  "Wooden  Clubs"  I  have  up 
to  this  time  mentioned  only  the  driver.  The 
brassie,  it  would  seem,  has  been  completely 
relegated  to  the  background.  Such  a  slight 
to  the  brassie  is  by  no  means  intentional,  but 
it  has  been  necessary,  for  simplicity's  sake, 
to  deal  with  only  one  club  at  a  time.  Prac- 
tically everything  that  has  been  said  about 
strokes  played  with  the  driver  is  equally  ap- 
plicable to  those  made  with  a  brassie. 

The  club  itself  should  closely  resemble  the 
driver,  and  the  two  should  be  well  matched  as 


170  Golf  for  Women 

to  weight  and  lie.  The  sole  of  the  brassie  is 
shod  with  brass  to  enable  it  to  pick  the  ball 
more  readily  out  of  the  grass  or  a  somewhat 
cuppy  lie.  Because  its  work  is  a  little  rougher 
than  that  of  the  driver,  which  is  used  only 
from  the  tee  or  when  the  lie  is  particularly 
advantageous,  the  shaft  should  be  a  little 
less  springy  and  an  inch  or  so  shorter. 
Many  players  prefer  having  the  shafts  of  the 
two  clubs  of  equal  length  as  they  desire  to 
get  the  greatest  distance  possible  with  the 
brassie.  It  is  better,  however,  for  women 
players  in  general  to  use  a  brassie  with  a 
slightly  shortened  shaft  as  they  will  then  have 
more  control  over  the  club.  The  average 
woman  player  is  inclined  to  be  somewhat  wild 
in  her  brassie  shots,  and  she  can  well  afford 
to  run  the  chance  of  losing  a  little  distance  in 
order  to  steady  herself  in  the  use  of  the  club. 
The  stance  and  grip  and  general  characteris- 
tics of  the  swing  are  the  same  for  brassie  and 
driver.  If  the  shaft  of  the  brassie  is  shorter 
than  that  of  the  driver,  the  swing  will  be  rather 
more  upright,  but  that  is  practically  the  only 


The  Wooden  Clubs  171 

difference  between  the  two.  As  it  is  not  pos- 
sible to  get  the  distance  from  iron  clubs  that  it 
is  from  the  wooden,  a  player  should  be  assidu- 
ous in  her  practice  with  her  brassie.  If  she 
cannot  use  it  well,  she  will  find  herself  sadly 
left  behind  in  playing  long  holes.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  it  is  a  difficult  club  to  master,  but 
perseverance  and  intelligent  practice  will  ac- 
complish a  great  deal  and  the  reward  is  well 
worth  the  effort. 


VII 
SPECIAL  SHOTS 

THE  PUSH  SHOT — THE  SLICE — THE  PULL — 
PLAYING  STYMIES 

"IT  TT  THEN  once  the  regular  shots  have 
\/ \/  been  mastered,  the  player's  mind 
immediately  turns  to  learning  to 
execute  those  more  difficult  strokes,  the  com- 
mand of  which  stamps  one  definitely  as  an 
expert  at  the  game.  For  all  ordinary  playing 
a  woman  will  get  on  quite  as  well  if  she  leaves 
these  alone,  and  contents  herself  with  playing 
a  straight  ball  with  whatever  spin  comes  to  it 
naturally  from  the  face  of  the  club  that  she 
is  using.  By  following  such  a  course,  how- 
ever, she  can  never  hope  to  rank  as  a  player 
of  the  first  class;  but,  before  deciding  to  add 
to  her  game  these  difficult  shots,  she  must  be 
sure  that  her  skill  in  playing  in  the  ordinary 
way  has  become  so  great  that  she  is  ready 

172 


Special  Shots  173 

to  progress  beyond  the  grade  of  a  regular  club 
player  and  to  enter  the  lists  as  a  possible 
champion  of  her  club  or  of  the  group  of  clubs 
surrounding  her.  To  attempt  to  learn  the 
slice,  or  the  pull,  or  the  drive  played  with 
back-spin,  or  any  shot  requiring  special  skill, 
before  she  has  attained  complete  control  of 
herself  and  her  club  is  to  court  confusion  and 
disaster.  The  mental  and  physical  adjust- 
ment necessary  for  playing  ordinary  shots  can 
be  acquired  only  after  the  most  painstaking 
effort  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  discouraging 
facts  about  the  game  of  golf  that,  just  when 
the  player  has  reached  the  point  where  she  is 
beginning  to  feel  really  sure  of  herself,  some 
slight  change  in  her  manner  of  playing  will 
throw  the  whole  combination  completely  out 
of  gear.  To  express  the  same  idea  in  the  ver- 
nacular of  golf,  a  change  in  her  stance  or 
swing  or  in  her  mental  conception  of  the 
physical  motions  she  is  about  to  make  will 
put  her  "off  her  game."  It  is  for  this  reason 
that  I  have,  through  the  pages  of  this  book, 
so  strongly  urged  the  necessity  of  building  up 


Golf  for  Women 

the  correct  method  of  playing  each  shot,  so 
that,  once  the  habit  is  established,  it  will  not 
have  to  be  changed  and  the  player  subjected 
to  the  unsettling  effect  of  abandoning  one 
method  in  order  to  adopt  a  better  one. 

If,  however,  the  player  has  reached  such  a 
state  of  perfection  that  she  feels  she  can  safely 
risk  the  addition  of  special  strokes  to  her 
game,  she  has  before  her  a  group  of  shots  that, 
when  thoroughly  at  her  command,  will  place 
her  high  in  the  list  of  women  golfers. 
Which  of  these  shots  is  the  "master-stroke" 
is  a  subject  on  which  players  disagree,  and 
it  is  hardly  worth  while  our  entering  into  the 
discussion  of  this  point.  Each  shot  has  its 
own  merits  and  its  own  uses  and  there  is  no 
particular  advantage  to  be  gained  by  pro- 
claiming any  one  of  them  "master."  It 
would  be  convenient,  however,  if  players 
would  agree  upon  a  name  for  the  push  shot 
when  played  with  a  wooden  club.  There  ap- 
pears to  be  no  definite  name  for  this  shot  and 
it  is  rather  curious  that  there  should  not  be  be- 
cause it  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  important 


Special  Shots  175 

shots  of  the  game.  The  word  "wind-cheater" 
has  been  used  by  some  players  to  designate 
this  stroke  and  as  this  term  seems  as  well 
known  and  as  reasonable  as  any,  I  shall  adopt 
it  for  lack  of  a  better. 


THE  PUSH   SHOT 

The  push  shot  and  the  wind-cheater  may  be 
classed  together  because,  although  one  is 
played  with  an  iron  club  and  the  other  with  a 
wooden  club,  the  fundamental  principle  of 
the  two  shots  is  the  same.  Both  are  played 
by  coming  down  on  the  ball.  The  moment  of 
impact  occurs  before  the  club  head  has  reached 
the  lowest  point  in  the  arc  of  its  swing,  so  that 
the  ball  is  sent  away  with  a  backward  spin  that 
helps  it  to  hold  a  straight  course  through  the 
air  and  prevents  it  from  rolling  too  freely 
when  it  reaches  the  ground.  These  two  shots 
are  exceedingly  valuable  and  are  a  source  of 
great  satisfaction  to  a  player  who  has  them  at 
her  command.  They  are  not  by  any  means 
easy  to  manage  because  they  require  very 
great  accuracy.  Anyone  who  undertakes  to 


176  Golf  for  Women 

learn  them  will  go  through  a  discouraging 
period  of  tapping  or  of  banging  the  ground 
before  she  learns  that  absolute  control  of  her 
club  that  is  necessary  to  play  these  shots  suc- 
cessfully. The  reward  of  persistent  trying 
will  be  great,  however,  and  these  strokes,  once 
mastered,  are  an  invaluable  addition  to  the 
player's  game. 

The  push  shot  is  usually  played  with  a  cleek 
or  mid-iron,  although  a  mashie  or  a  jigger 
may  be  used.  The  jigger  is  rather  a  danger- 
ous club  on  account  of  its  narrow  blade,  but  it 
is  well  liked  by  some  players  and  if  one  is 
successful  with  it,  it  needs  no  other  argument 
in  its  favor.  Duncan  says  that  all  shots 
played  with  iron  clubs  should  be  push  shots. 
That  is  a  very  extreme  statement,  but,  as  it 
seems  to  be  a  common  fault  among  women  to 
make  the  ball  go  too  high  when  they  are  using 
iron  clubs,  it  would  be  well  for  those  that  are 
conscious  of  this  failing  to  consider  the  method 
of  keeping  the  ball  low  that  is  a  part  of  the 
push  shot,  and  to  profit  by  adopting  some- 
thing of  this  method  of  playing. 


'Special  Shots  177 

The  player,  in  taking  her  position  for  play- 
ing the  push  shot,  stands  more  in  advance  of 
the  ball  than  she  is  in  the  habit  of  doing  for 
an  ordinary  shot  with  an  iron  club.  Her 
hands,  instead  of  being  in  a  line  with  the  ball, 
are  somewhat  ahead  of  it.  This  position  of 
the  hands  causes  the  face  of  the  club  to  lose 
some  of  its  loft  so  that  the  ball  is  not  forced 
up  as  it  would  be  if  the  club  were  soled  in 
the  regular  way.  Everything  in  the  method 
of  playing  this  shot  conspires  to  keep  the 
ball  low.  The  stance  is  fairly  open,  the  left 
toe  pointing  toward  the  hole  and  the  weight 
equally  divided  between  the  two  feet,  if  any- 
thing, more  on  the  left  than  the  right.  The 
player  aims  for  the  back  of  the  ball,  not  for 
the  top  of  the  ball  as  is  sometimes  advised, 
or  she  will  surely  get  into  trouble.  The  club 
head  should  meet  the  ball  as  it  is  still  on  its 
downward  journey,  and  should  graze  closely 
or  bite  the  turf  an  inch  or  two  beyond  the 
spot  on  which  the  ball  rested.  The  swing  for 
this  stroke  is  upright  and  should  never  be 
fuller  than  three-quarter  because  the  idea 


178  Golf  for  Women 

of  coming  down  on  the  back  of  the  ball  must 
be  strictly  maintained.  The  club  should  fol- 
low the  ball  and  its  action,  after  the  ball  has 
been  hit,  should  be  somewhat  restrained. 
There  should  be  no  grand  flourish  at  the  end 
of  this  stroke;  the  club  should  be  kept 
down  so  that  it  does  not  rise  materially  past 
the  point  where  its  shaft  is  parallel  to  the 
ground. 

Some  persons  advise  turning  the  right 
wrist  over  at  the  moment  of  impact  with  the 
idea  of  helping  to  keep  the  ball  low.  This 
advice  falls  into  that  class  of  impractical  sug- 
gestions that  cannot  be  carried  out.  It  is, 
however,  the  correct  finish  of  this  stroke  to 
allow  the  right  wrist  and  forearm  to  turn  over 
as  the  club  follows  out  after  the  ball  so  that, 
as  the  limit  of  the  follow-through  is  reached, 
the  toe  of  the  club  is  pointing  toward  the 
ground. 

The  stroke  for  playing  this  shot  with  a 
wooden  club  is  the  same  in  theory  and  the 
same  in  application,  with,  of  course,  what- 
ever modifications  are  necessary  on  account 


Special  Shots  179 

of  the  difference  in  the  structure  of  the  two 
types  of  clubs.  When  this  shot  is  played 
from  a  tee,  it  is  well  to  build  the  tee  rather 
high  as  such  an  arrangement  gives  more  op- 
portunity for  the  club's  face  to  cross  the  ball 
with  a  downward  motion.  The  idea  that  a 
high  tee  necessarily  leads  to  a  high  line  of 
flight  is  an  erroneous  one.  The  upward  curve 
of  the  ball's  flight  is  governed  by  the  way 
in  which  the  club  meets  the  ball  and  not  by 
the  height  of  the  tee  on  which  the  ball  rests. 
When  there  is  a  head  wind  there  is  no  better 
shot  than  the  wind-cheater  for  holding  a 
straight  course  and  for  carrying  a  long  dis- 
tance. The  ball  played  by  this  stroke  flies 
low  for  the  greater  part  of  its  journey,  then 
rises  in  a  graceful  curve  and  falls  to  the 
ground.  During  the  early  part  of  its  flight 
the  force  of  its  forward  impulse  prevents  its 
back  spin  from  having  visible  effect,  but,  as 
its  speed  begins  to  decrease,  the  fact  that  the 
ball  is  revolving  backward  causes  it  to  mount 
gradually  higher  until  its  force  is  spent  and 
it  drops  to  earth.  By  the  time  the  ball  has 


180  Golf  for  Women 

reached  the  ground  the  back  spin  has  been 
nearly,  if  not  quite,  exhausted  so  the  ball  is, 
after  all,  a  fairly  good  runner.  In  this  it 
differs  from  such  a  shot  as  the  pitched  mashie 
shot.  In  the  case  of  the  mashie  shot  the  ball 
rises  abruptly  as  soon  as  it  leaves  the  face  of 
the  club  and  falls  to  earth  before  the  spin  of 
its  backward  rotation  has  had  time  to  wear 
off.  For  this  reason  the  mashie  shot  has 
sometimes  a  kick  or,  in  any  case,  very  little 
run,  while  the  wind-cheater,  by  the  time  it 
reaches  the  ground,  acts  very  much  in  the 
manner  of  a  ball  that  has  been  played  with 
no  back-spin  at  all. 

Valuable  as  this  shot  is,  it  is  a  pity  that 
there  are  few  women  players  who  can  exe- 
cute it  at  will.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  re- 
quires a  good  deal  of  strength.  The  shot 
may  be  played  perfectly  as  to  the  action  of 
the  player's  body  and  the  movement  of  the 
club,  but,  if  there  is  not  a  good  deal  of  force 
behind  the  blow,  the  shot  will  not  be  success- 
ful. 


MISS  ELAINE  ROSENTHAL 
Finish  of  brassie  shot. 


Special  Shots  181 

THE  SLICE 

It  is  not  often  that  we  can  turn  our  mis- 
takes into  virtues,  but  such  is  the  case  in  play- 
ing the  slice.  Slicing  is  one  of  the  most  com- 
mon faults  among  players,  and  it  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  correct  when  one  desires  to  play  a 
straight  ball.  The  most  contrary  fact  about 
this  fault  is  that  it  is  just  as  hard  to  commit 
it  consciously  as  it  is  to  correct  it.  The  in- 
veterate slicer,  when  asked  to  play  for  a  slice, 
will  go  through  all  kinds  of  grotesque  motions 
and  will  end  by  declaring  that  she  does  not 
know  how  it  is  done.  The  reason  for  this  is, 
of  course,  that  she  has  fallen  unconsciously 
into  the  habits  of  stance  and  swing  that  con- 
duce to  a  slice  and  is,  therefore,  unable  to 
reproduce  her  own  actions  when  invited  to 
do  so. 

The  spin  that  causes  the  sliced  ball  to 
swerve  sharply  to  the  right  as  soon  as  its  for- 
ward momentum  has  slackened  is  produced 
by  the  face  of  the  club  cutting  across  the  ball's 
intended  line  of  flight  at  the  moment  of  im- 


182  Golf  for  Women 

pact.  A  slight  slice  may  result  from  the 
player's  pulling  in  her  arms  at  the  moment 
the  ball  is  hit  instead  of  allowing  the  head  of 
the  club  to  follow  straight  after  the  ball. 
This  is  a  fault  in  the  follow-through  that  falls 
into  the  class  of  unintentional  slicing  and 
should  not  be  tried  for  when  the  player  is  en- 
deavoring to  cut  across  the  ball.  It  is  one  of 
the  general  assortment  of  last  minute  jerks 
that  may  be  done  unconsciously,  but  which  the 
mind  is  not  quick  enough  to  control  when  at- 
tempted as  a  regular  method  of  play. 

For  the  true  slice  the  player  must  plan  her 
stroke  so  that  the  path  of  the  club's  head  will 
cross  obliquely  the  line  from  ball  to  hole  pro- 
duced. To  accomplish  this  the  stance  should 
be  quite  open,  the  ball  nearly  in  a  line 
with  the  left  toe  and  that  toe  pointing  to- 
ward the  hole.  From  this  position  of  the 
body  it  follows  that  the  reach  of  the  left 
arm  is  shortened  and  that  the  head  of  the 
club,  as  it  is  carried  back,  will  go  outside  the 
line  from  hole  to  ball  produced.  As  this 
path  of  the  club's  head  is  the  inevitable  result 


Special  Shots  183 

of  the  player's  position  and  not  a  conscious 
pushing  out  of  the  club,  the  club's  head  will 
return  in  the  same  plane  in  which  it  went  back. 
The  swing  for  this  stroke  is  of  a  more  upright 
nature  than  that  for  a  straight  drive,  and 
the  follow-through  correspondingly  vertical. 
The  fact  that,  at  the  moment  of  impact,  the 
face  of  the  club  is  cutting  across  the  ball  causes 
the  ball  to  start  on  its  journey  with  a  spin 
from  left  to  right.  The  axis  on  which  the 
ball  rotates  is  very  nearly  vertical  so  that  the 
ball  is  spinning  in  a  manner  very  similar  to  a 
top.  It  is  this  decided  side  spin  that  causes 
the  ball  to  turn  abruptly  to  the  right  as  soon 
as  the  pace  slackens  sufficiently  for  the  spin 
to  affect  the  direction  of  its  flight.  It  is  this 
side  spin  that  also  prevents  the  ball  from  run- 
ning freely  when  once  it  has  reached  the 
ground. 

THE  PULL 

To  the  casual  observer  the  pulled  ball  seems 
to  be  the  reverse  of  the  sliced  ball,  but  if  such 
were  the  case,  the  curve  of  its  flight  and  its 


184  Golf  for  Women 

action  on  the  ground  would  be  the  same  ex- 
cept for  the  fact  that  it  would  curve  to  the 
left  instead  of  to  the  right.  It  requires  care- 
ful observation  of  the  conditions  under  which 
a  ball  is  pulled  for  the  player  to  ascertain 
why  it  is  that  the  ball  with  a  hook  is  a  good 
traveler  and  runs  freely.  Everyone  knows 
that  to  play  a  ball  with  a  slight  pull  is  no  dis- 
advantage, and  that  many  players  use  this 
shot  in  preference  to  a  straight  drive. 
Whether  or  not  they  are  justified  in  doing  so 
raises  another  question.  It  is  extremely 
doubtful  whether  the  hooked  ball  offers  any 
advantage  over  the  straight  ball  with  back  spin 
unless,  of  course,  its  curve  is  utilized  to  get 
around  some  obstruction. 

If  we  consider  carefully  the  stance  and 
swing  for  the  pull  we  will,  in  due  course,  dis- 
cover wherein  the  nature  of  its  spin  differs 
from  the  slice,  beyond  the  fact  that  it  has  in 
a  general  way  the  reverse  motion. 

The  object  now  is  to  cause  the  ball  to  ro- 
tate, roughly  speaking,  from  right  to  left. 
I  shall  risk  appearing  somewhat  pedantic  by 


"Special  Shots  185 

explaining  here  that  when  an  object  is  re- 
volving in  the  same  direction  in  which  the 
hands  of  a  clock,  laid  flat  on  its  back,  move, 
its  rotation  is  described  as  going  from  left  to 
right.  When  the  object  is  moving  anti-clock- 
wise, its  motion  is  called  a  spin  from  right  to 
left.  [When  playing  for  a  pull,  in  order  that 
the  ball  may  have  this  right  to  left  rotation,  it 
is  necessary  that  the  face  of  the  club  should  cut 
across  the  ball's  intended  line  of  flight  in  such 
a  way  that  the  friction  of  the  club's  face 
against  the  ball  should  produce  the  desired 
spin.  To  accomplish  this  the  player  takes 
her  stance  so  that  her  right  foot  is  withdrawn 
behind  the  imaginary  line  that  crosses  her  left 
toe  and  runs  parallel  to  the  line  from  hole  to 
ball  produced.  Braid  says,  on  page  77  of 
"Advanced  Golf,"  that  ".  .  .  .  we  place  the 
right  foot  back  and  make  the  stance  an  exag- 
gerated square."  It  is  somewhat  puzzling 
to  understand  how  a  thing  can  be  more  square 
than  square.  This  quotation  emphasizes  the 
fact  that  I  have  already  mentioned  that  the 
game  of  golf  is  deficient  in  terminology.  We 


186  Golf  for  Women 

have,  in  this  case,  the  square  stance  and  the 
open  stance  but  there  is,  so  far  as  I  know,  no 
word  or  phrase  that  is  generally  accepted  to 
denote  the  open  stance  that  opens  the  other 
way.  However,  we  must  get  on  as  best  we 
can  with  the  words  at  our  disposal  until  some 
clever  person  supplies  some  new  terms. 

The  player  should  take  her  position  so  that 
the  ball  is  opposite  the  right  foot.  It  is  im- 
possible to  say  whether  the  ball  should  be  in 
a  line  with  the  toe,  instep  or  heel  of  the  right 
foot,  and,  when  a  slice  is  being  played,  it  is 
equally  impossible  to  state  exactly  where  the 
ball  should  be  in  relation  to  the  left  foot.  The 
slight  peculiarities  that  differentiate  one  per- 
son's style  of  play  from  that  of  another  make 
it  impractical  to  attempt  to  be  definite  to  the 
point  of  hair-splitting.  If  a  player  has  the 
proper  idea  in  mind,  she  can  and  must  work 
out  the  smaller  details  for  herself. 

The  swing  for  the  pull  is  decidedly  flat. 
The  club  head  draws  away  from  the  ball  to- 
ward the  player  and  continues  in  a  curved  line 
around  the  player's  body.  If,  as  some  writers 


Special  Shots  187 

suggest,  the  club  is  drawn  back  in  the  line 
of  the  ball's  intended  flight,  it  is  certain  that, 
on  account  of  the  position  of  the  player's 
whole  body,  it  will  not  come  down  in  the  same 
path  in  which  it  went  up.  It  is  better  to  allow 
the  head  of  the  club  to  leave  the  straight 
line  as  it  is  carried  back  and  to  bring  it  in  to- 
ward the  body,  then,  as  it  returns  on  the 
downward  swing,  it  will  cross  the  ball's  in- 
tended line  of  flight  and  reach  out  beyond 
it.  In  this  manner  the  desired  side  spin  is 
imparted  to  the  ball.  Soon  after  the  ball  is 
hit  and  the  club  starts  on  its  follow-through, 
the  right  wrist  is  allowed  to  turn  over,  and, 
as  the  club  reaches  out  beyond  the  ball's  line 
of  flight,  the  right  arm  is  carried  across  the 
front  of  the  body  in  a  position  that  is  almost 
straight. 

To  return  to  the  downward  swing  of  the 
club,  it  is,  as  I  have  said,  of  a  decidedly  flat 
variety.  As  the  head  of  the  club  meets  the 
ball,  the  club  is  already  beginning  to  rise  and 
therefore  a  certain  amount  of  top  spin  as  well 
as  side  spin  is  given  to  the  ball.  It  is  this 


188  Golf  for  Women 

fact  that  accounts  for  the  difference  in  the 
action  of  the  pulled  ball  and  the  sliced  ball. 
Whereas  the  ball  played  with  slice  has  almost 
pure  side  rotation,  the  ball  played  with  pull 
has  side  rotation,  modified  by  an  over  spin 
which  makes  it  fly  long  and  low  through  the 
air  and  run  freely  when  it  has  reached  the 
ground. 

Some  players  slice  a  ball  into  the  wind  if 
the  wind  is  coming  from  the  right,  and  pull 
the  ball  if  the  wind  is  coming  from  the  left. 
To  do  this  successfully  requires  very  exact 
judgment  of  the  direction  from  which  the 
wind  is  blowing  or  the  player  will  suffer  more 
damage  than  benefit.  If,  for  example,  the 
wind  is  a  cross  between  a  head  wind  and  one 
blowing  at  a  direct  right  angle  from  the  right 
of  the  fairway,  its  action  on  the  sliced  ball  will 
be  to  push  it  still  farther  around  in  the  curve 
that  it  makes  naturally.  If  the  wind  is  com- 
ing from  somewhere  behind  that  line  which 
makes  a  right  angle  to  the  fairway,  there 
is  no  reason  why  the  player  should  try  for  a 
slice.  A  straight  ball  under  such  conditions 


Special  Shots  189 

would  go  farther  and  be  much  safer.  To  have 
in  mind  that  it  is  advantageous  to  slice  into  a 
wind  that  is  coming  from  anywhere  at  the 
right,  is  very  dangerous.  In  certain  com- 
binations of  circumstances,  when  the  player 
feels  that  she  can  be  sure  in  her  calculations  of 
the  effect  of  the  wind  on  the  ball,  and  when  it 
is  not  her  object  to  gain  as  much  length  as 
possible,  she  may  find  it  desirable  to  use  the 
sliced  ball,  but  such  a  combination  is  far  from 
frequent. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  the  fairway  slopes 
decidedly  to  the  right  or  to  the  left,  the  ball 
with  a  sidewise  curve  in  its  flight  may  be  made 
to  stick  to  the  side  of  the  hill  when  a  straight 
ball  would  roll  down.  Occasionally  one  finds 
courses  that  have  one  hole  or  several  holes 
that  must  be  played  along  a  side  slope. 
When  such  a  situation  is  encountered  it  is  very 
convenient  to  be  able  to  pull  or  slice  against 
the  rising  ground.  It  seems  unfair  that  a 
straight  ball  should  be  penalized  by  the  per- 
manent conformation  of  the  ground,  but  golf 
architects  slip  into  a  course,  now  and  then,  a 


190  Golf  for  Women 

hole  that  must  be  played  over  a  side  sloping 
fairway,  or  one  that  has  an  angle  or  elbow 
guarded  by  some  obstacle  such  as  a  building 
or  a  group  of  trees.  Such  holes  as  these  test 
the  player's  skill  and,  if  they  are  discourag- 
ing to  the  beginner,  they  add  to  the  variety 
and  interest  of  a  course  to  those  who  have 
become  skillful  players. 

PLAYING  STYMIES 

One  might  think  that  rolling  the  ball  into 
the  hole  presented  enough  difficulties  for  the 
player  without  having  the  task  of  getting 
around  or  over  her  opponent's  ball  added  to 
her  troubles.  However,  the  rules  for  match 
play  demand  that  stymies  must  be  played,  so 
the  player  has  no  choice  in  the  matter  but  to 
do  the  best  she  can  in  the  circumstances. 

There  are  so  many  different  positions  in 
which  the  two  balls  may  lie  in  relation  to 
each  other,  to  the  hole,  and  to  the  possible 
slope  of  the  green  that  it  is  hardly  possible 
to  mention  each  one  of  the  situations  that  may 
occur.  Each  separate  case  presents  its  own 


MRS.  LILIAN  HYDE  FEITNER 
A  free  finish. 


Special  Shots  191 

problem  and  must  be  dealt  with  as  seems  best 
according  to  the  player's  judgment.  Lack 
of  confidence  in  one's  own  ability  is  perhaps 
the  greatest  difficulty  that  must  be  overcome. 
Stymie  shots  must  be  played  with  a  great 
deal  of  firmness  and  decision,  and  the  player 
who  doubts  her  ability  to  make  the  shot  has 
already  defeated  herself.  When  a  clean, 
sharp  stroke  is  required,  as  it  is  in  playing 
stymies,  any  suggestion  of  uncertainty  on  the 
part  of  the  person  who  is  wielding  the  club 
immediately  communicates  itself  to  the 
ball  with  the  result  that  the  shot  goes 
wrong. 

If  the  two  balls  are  lying  sufficiently  far 
apart  to  permit  a  cut  stroke  being  used,  the 
player  has  the  choice  of  pulling  the  ball 
around  to  the  left  or  of  slicing  it  to  the  right. 
As  the  sliced  shot  is  far  easier  to  accomplish 
one  is  generally  predisposed  in  its  favor,  and 
this  attitude  of  mind  is  quite  right  if  one  does 
not  stick  to  it  too  rigidly.  If  the  ground 
should  happen  to  slope  away  to  the  left  of  the 
balls,  it;  would  of  course  be  impossible  to  ex- 


192  Golf  for  Women 

pect  the  ball  to  go  down  the  slope  and  up 
again  as  it  would  have  to  if  a  slice  were  played. 
In  that  case  a  pulled  ball  would  be  the  only 
one  practicable,  unless,  of  course,  the  ground 
should  rise  to  the  right  of  the  balls,  in  which 
case  a  straight  shot  played  against  the  rise 
would  circumvent  the  opponent's  ball. 
When,  on  the  other  hand,  the  ground  rises 
to  the  left  of  the  balls,  if  a  curved  ball  is  re- 
quired at  all,  the  conditions  for  a  slice  are 
ideal,  as  the  slope  of  the  ground  will  help  the 
ball  to  curve  back  toward  the  hole. 

The  stroke  for  cutting  one  ball  around  an- 
other is  the  same  in  general  theory  as  the 
stroke  for  a  slice  or  a  pull,  only,  of  course, 
the  whole  operation  is  reduced  to  a  much 
smaller  scale.  For  the  cut  stroke  correspond- 
ing to  the  slice,  the  player  stands  with  her 
left  foot  drawn  back  and  pointing  toward  the 
hole.  She  will  grip  her  club,  probably  a 
mashie,  firmly  with  both  hands  and  will  carry 
the  club  back  outside  the  line  from  hole  to 
ball  produced.  The  forward  swing  will  be 
strong  and  decisive,  the  club  head  meeting 


Special  Shots  193 

the  ball  with  a  glancing  blow  and  finishing  to 
the  left. 

How  far  the  hands  shall  be  held  up  or  down 
the  shaft  of  the  club  and  how  far  the  club 
shall  be  carried  back  depend  upon  the  dis- 
tance that  the  ball  must  cover.  It  is  im- 
portant that  the  ball  should  be  addressed 
squarely  and  that  the  burden  of  producing 
side  spin  should  be  laid  upon  the  oblique  blow 
given  to  the  ball  by  the  club's  diagonal  course. 
Some  persons  advise  laying  back  the  face  of 
the  club  so  that  its  toe  slopes  away  from  the 
ball  in  the  belief  that  side  spin  may  more 
easily  be  obtained  when  the  club  meets  the 
ball  in  this  way.  Such  a  procedure,  however, 
is  far  more  likely  to  result  in  the  ball  shoot- 
ing off  to  the  right  and  not  coming  back,  than 
in  producing  the  desired  curve. 

When  conditions  require  that  the  ball  be 
pulled  into  the  hole  the  player  takes  her  posi- 
tion as  she  would  for  a  pulled  drive  with,  of 
course,  the  modifications  that  are  necessary  on 
account  of  the  restricted  character  of  the 
stroke.  It  is  much  more  difficult  to  make  this 


194  Golf  for  Women 

shot  successfully  than  it  is  the  one  just  de- 
scribed, and  the  player  may  consider  herself 
very  fortunate  if  she  has  a  favoring  slope 
that  will  help  the  ball  to  curve  around  to  the 
hole.  The  calculation  of  the  result  of  the 
warring  forces,  forward  propulsion  and  side 
spin,  requires  much  experience.  The  player 
who  has  formed  the  habit  of  adjusting  auto- 
matically the  length  of  her  backward  swing 
to  the  distance  to  be  traversed  by  her  ball  will 
find  that  she  has  gained  for  herself  a  great 
advantage  in  managing  these  cut  stymie 
shots.  The  habit  of  holding  the  body  steady 
and  of  keeping  the  eye  on  the  ball  will  also  be 
of  the  greatest  assistance  to  her.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  it  is  only  after  a  player  has  be- 
come a  good  putter,  so  far  as  straight  putting 
is  concerned,  that  she  can  hope  to  be  able  to 
play  stymies  with  any  chance  of  success. 

When  the  two  balls  are  so  close  together 
that  there  is  no  room  for  cutting  one  ball 
around  the  other,  a  new  problem  presents  it- 
self. If  both  the  balls,  so  placed,  are  lying 
close  to  the  hole,  then  one  must  be  jumped 


Special  Shots  195 

over  the  other  and  either  dropped  into  the 
hole  or  allowed  to  run  into  it.  This  shot  is 
best  accomplished  by  using  a  club  with  a  great 
deal  of  loft,  a  grooved  face,  and  a  sharp  lower 
edge.  A  niblick  or  a  mashie-niblick  will 
probably  be  selected,  as  an  ordinary  mashie 
has  too  broad  a  sole.  The  ball  is  addressed 
squarely  and  the  club  carried  straight  back  for 
a  few  inches,  just  grazing  the  turf.  The  ob- 
ject is  to  cut  under  the  ball  with  the  sharp 
lowrer  edge  of  the  club's  head,  so  that  the  loft 
of  the  face  of  the  club  will  force  the  ball 
abruptly  into  the  air.  In  order  to  accom- 
plish this,  the  club  is  barely  separated  from 
the  grass  at  all  but  brushes  over  it  as  closely 
as  is  possible  without  actually  digging  into 
the  ground.  This  shot  requires  great  delicacy 
of  touch,  but  it  is  not  really  so  very  difficult 
if  the  two  balls  happen  to  be  so  situated  with 
relation  to  the  hole  that  the  natural  propor- 
tion of  the  length  of  the  ball's  run  to  the 
extent  of  its  journey  through  the  air  will 
carry  the  ball  into  the  hole. 

While  describing  this  stroke  J.  H.  Taylor, 


196  Golf  for  Women 

"Taylor  on  Golf,"  page  250,  makes  the  fol- 
lowing statement: 

"Then,  exactly  as  the  club  strikes  the  ball, 
the  wrists  must  be  turned  in  an  upward  direc- 
tion smartly.  The  result  of  this  is  that  the 
ball  is  lofted  over  the  other,  and  if  hit  prop- 
erly, it  will  run  on  and  go  out  of  sight  as  in- 
tended." 

This  advice  is  very  nearly  as  unsound  as 
though  he  advocated  scooping  a  ball  out  of 
a  bunker.  Even  in  such  a  restricted  shot 
as  this  the  ball  must  be  hit  with  a  distinct 
blow ;  it  cannot  be  lifted  up  on  the  club's  broad 
face  and  allowed  to  drop  on  the  other  side 
of  the  obstruction.  The  slope  of  the  club 
will  do  the  work  if  allowed  to,  so  the  player's 
one  purpose  should  be  to  keep  the  lower  edge 
of  the  club  as  close  to  the  ground  as  possible. 
If  she  does  that,  and  has  gauged  the  force  and 
direction  of  her  stroke  correctly,  she  has  done 
all  she  can  toward  making  the  shot  a  suc- 
cess. 


VIII 

IRREGULAR  STANCES 

IF  all  golf  courses  were  laid  out  upon  flat 
ground  many  of  the  difficulties  of  the 
games  would  be  eliminated.  Fortunately 
this  is  not  the  case.  I  say  "fortunately," 
because  level  courses  are  extremely  un- 
interesting and  any  enthusiastic  player  is  glad 
to  have  the  problems  of  playing  multiplied  by 
legitimate  difficulties.  After  the  confusion 
that  may  have  been  implanted  in  the  player's 
mind  by  false  or  irrelevant  theories  has  been 
removed  by  her  own  clear  thinking,  she  is 
glad  of  the  opportunity  for  exercising  her 
ingenuity  in  meeting  the  awkward  situations 
that  arise  in  playing  a  course  where  she  must 
follow  her  ball  up  hill  and  down  dale.  Such 
a  course  as  the  one  at  Lakewood  or  at  Gar- 
den City  becomes  monotonous  after  a  time. 
Aside  from  the  aesthetic  pleasure  that  is  de- 

197 


198  Golf  for  Women 

rived  from  picturesquely  rolling  country, 
there  is  an  exhilaration  of  spirit  produced  by 
the  necessity  of  adapting  oneself  to  the  exi- 
gencies of  diversified  ground  formation.  It 
is  distinctly  more  interesting  not  to  play  shot 
after  shot  in  the  same  manner,  but  to  be  forced 
to  use  one's  mind  and  skill  in  playing  the  regu- 
lar shots  not  only  in  the  regular  way,  but  also 
in  ways  that  present  fresh  problems  of  stance 
and  swing. 

As  I  have  said  several  times  before, 
women's  besetting  sin  is  lack  of  clear  and  con- 
centrated thinking.  Once  a  woman  can  be 
rescued  from  the  state  of  mind  that  causes 
her  to  do  this  or  that  because  some  one  has 
told  her  to,  and  has  been  awakened  to  the  joy 
of  thinking  for  herself,  she  has  made  the  first 
long  step  toward  becoming  a  good  player.  It 
must  not  be  supposed  that  I  am  recommend- 
ing an  omniscient  attitude  for  anyone.  When 
a  person  believes  she  cannot  learn  anything 
more  about  a  subject,  she  immediately  con- 
fesses her  own  stupidity.  The  wise  woman 
is  she  who  listens  to  each  theory  and  sugges- 


Irregular  Stances  199 

tion  as  it  comes  her  way,  but,  sifting  the  true 
from  the  false,  retains  for  herself  only 
such  as  she  can  in  her  own  mind  prove  sound. 
It  is  by  the  efforts  of  body  and  mind  combined 
that  one  gets  the  most  pleasure  and  benefit 
from  any  game,  and  this  is  especially  true  in 
the  game  of  golf.  In  fact,  it  is  only  after  a 
player  has  ceased  thoughtlessly  to  hit  her 
ball  along  from  hole  to  hole,  her  moods  al- 
ternating between  joy  and  depression  as  she 
chances  to  make  a  good  or  a  bad  shot,  and  has 
learned  to  make  an  earnest  endeavor  to  under- 
stand the  scientific  principles  of  all  that  she 
does,  that  she  comes  to  a  realization  of  the 
full  pleasure  of  the  game. 

After  a  player  has  established  her  method 
of  holding  her  club  and  has  mastered  the  dif- 
ferent stances  and  swings  that  are  required 
in  playing  various  kinds  of  shots  on  level 
ground,  she  must  be  able  to  adapt  what  she 
has  learned  to  conditions  when  her  feet  are 
above  or  below  her  ball,  or  when  she  must  play 
up  or  down  a  slope.  Roughly  speaking,  there 
are  these  four  different  ways  in  which  she 


200  Golf  for  Women 

may  be  called  upon  to  make  her  stroke  when 
playing  over  rolling  ground,  but,  of  course, 
there  are  all  kinds  of  gradations  and  modi- 
fications of  these  situations.  To  make  suc- 
cessful shots  from  these  uneven  places  requires 
experience  in  judging  the  special  problem 
presented  in  each  case  and  practice  in  modi- 
fying or  changing  the  swing  of  the  club  to 
suit  each  condition.  Any  instructions  on  the 
subject  must  necessarily  be  of  the  most  gen- 
eral character  and  can  serve  only  as  a  start- 
ing point  from  which  each  person  must  pro- 
ceed guided  by  her  own  good  sense.  It  is 
hardly  to  be  expected  that  a  shot  played  under 
somewhat  trying  conditions  will  have  the 
length  that  could  be  produced  by  the  same 
club  used  in  the  ordinary  way.  A  player 
must  not  expect  too  much  of  her  shot  when 
she  is  playing  from  very  sloping  ground.  On 
the  other  hand,  she  must  not  allow  herself 
to  believe  that  she  is  excused  for  making  a 
bad  shot  because  of  the  somewhat  awkward 
position  in  which  she  must  take  her  stance. 
She  must  not  try  to  accomplish  the  impossi- 


MISS  MURIEL  DODD 
A  full  follow-through. 


Irregular  Stances  201 

ble,  but  she  must  not  be  satisfied  with  less 
than  her  very  best. 

In  my  comments  concerning  the  different 
strokes  I  have  frequently  emphasized  the  im- 
portance of  maintaining  a  firm  base  from 
which  to  make  the  swing.  When  the  feet  are 
above  or  below  the  ball,  or  placed  so  that 
one  is  higher  than  the  other,  the  difficulty 
of  holding  the  body  steady  is  much  increased, 
but  at  the  same  time  the  necessity  of  steadi- 
ness becomes,  if  possible,  even  more  impera- 
tive. The  inclination  to  draw  back  from  the 
ball  when  the  ball  is  above  the  level  of  the 
player's  feet,  or  to  straighten  the  body  when 
the  ball  lies  below,  is  hard  to  overcome,  but 
overcome  it  must  be  if  the  player  expects  to 
make  even  a  fair  shot. 

When  the  ball  is  above  the  player's  feet 
the  club  suddenly  appears  to  have  become  too 
long  for  the  player's  comfort.  To  counter- 
act this  she  will  without  doubt  grip  the  shaft 
well  down  toward  the  lower  edge  of  its  leather 
wrapping.  To  what  extent  she  will  shorten 
her  hold  will,  of  course,  depend  upon  the  de- 


202  Golf  for  Women 

gree  of  the  ground's  slope  and  the  length  of 
the  shaft  of  the  club  that  she  has  selected  to 
use.  When  the  ball  has  a  pleasant,  open  lie 
it  is  a  temptation  to  use  the  brassie,  but,  on 
account  of  its  long  shaft,  it  is  a  troublesome 
club  to  handle  when  the  distance  between  the 
ball  and  the  player's  hands  has  been  greatly 
shortened.  Generally  when  the  ball  is  above 
the  feet  it  is  safer  to  use  a  spoon  or  a  mid-iron, 
but,  as  I  have  said  before,  it  is  impractical 
to  give  detailed  advice  on  this  subject  because 
the  player  must  be  guided  by  the  special  as- 
pects of  each  different  situation. 

Having  selected  her  club  according  to  her 
own  best  judgment,  the  player  must  make  it 
her  endeavor  to  adapt  herself  to  her  surround- 
ings in  such  a  way  that  she  will  alter  her 
usual  method  of  procedure  with  that  club  as 
little  as  possible.  She  must  be  particularly 
careful  not  to  hold  her  hands  higher  than 
is  her  habit  because  to  do  so  will  surely  spoil 
her  shot.  She  must  be  careful  to  address  the 
ball  squarely  and  to  make  her  upward  swing 
deliberately  and  firmly.  On  account  of  the 


Irregular  Stances  203 

ball's  elevated  position  the  swing  will  be  pro- 
portionately flattened,  with  the  result  that  the 
ball  frequently  is  pulled.  Allowance  for  this 
possible  pull  must  be  made  as  the  player  takes 
her  aim.  If  the  player's  position  is  such  that 
she  necessarily  feels  somewhat  cramped,  it  is 
just  as  well  to  forego  some  of  the  usual  twist 
of  the  body.  Every  precaution  for  keeping 
perfect  balance  and  control  of  the  club  must 
be  observed. 

When  the  ball  is  lying  below  the  level  of 
the  player's  feet,  it  is,  I  believe,  even  more 
difficult  to  make  a  good  shot  than  it  is  when 
the  ball  is  in  an  elevated  position.  The 
player  either  plunges  forward  at  the  ball 
or  straightens  her  body  at  the  last  instant. 
Either  action  is  disastrous  and  yet,  in  trying 
to  correct  one  of  these  faults,  the  player  is 
almost  sure  to  fall  into  the  other.  It  seems 
almost  inevitable  that,  in  stooping  over  the 
ball,  one  will  either  tip  forward  on  the  toes  or 
involuntarily  raise  the  head  in  the  effort  to 
maintain  the  balance  of  the  body.  In  order 
to  forestall  these  natural  inclinations  the 


204  Golf  for  Women 

player  should  try  not  to  stoop  over  from  the 
hips  more  than  she  usually  does,  but  to  get 
down  to  the  ball  by  bending  her  knees.  Cor- 
rect balance  can  be  maintained  much  more 
easily  when  the  body  is  simply  lowered  in  this 
way  than  when  the  center  of  gravity  is  thrust 
forward  by  the  body's  arching  over.  With 
knees  decidedly  bent  it  is  not  easy  to  make  a 
full,  free  swing,  so  it  is  well  to  use  caution  and 
strive  for  accuracy  rather  than  length.  The 
character  of  the  swing  will  in  all  probability 
be  more  upright  than  usual  and,  if  a  wooden 
club  is  being  used,  this  will  cause  the  ball  to  be 
sliced  in  a  greater  or  less  degree.  As  in  the 
case  described  before  when  the  ball  is  above 
the  level  of  the  player's  feet,  if  she  has  any 
reason  to  believe  that  her  shot  will  not  be  a 
straight  one,  she  must  make  allowance  for 
the  curve  of  the  ball's  flight  while  taking  her 
aim. 

When  the  ball  is  lying  so  that  the  player 
must  stand  with  one  foot  higher  than  the 
other  her  weight  naturally  will  fall  more  on 
the  lower  foot  than  on  the  higher  one.  This 


Irregular  Stances  205 

unequal  distribution  of  her  weight  will  add 
to  the  uncertainty  of  her  being  able  to  pick 
up  the  ball  cleanly  from  the  slope  on  which 
it  is  lying.  It  will  be  necessary  for  her  to  plan 
and  execute  her  stroke  carefully  so  that  she 
may  be  able  to  get  as  full  a  swing  as  possible, 
hit  the  ball  squarely  and  follow  through  with- 
out striking  the  ground  either  before  or  after 
the  ball  is  hit.  To  accomplish  this  the  swing 
should  follow  the  slope  of  the  hill-side. 
When  the  ball's  flight  must  carry  it  up  the 
hill,  it  follows  that  the  swing  will  be  low  and 
flat  and  that  the  club  will  reach  out  after 
the  ball.  The  follow-through  must  not  be 
cut  off  abruptly,  for  fear  of  hitting  the 
ground,  but  must  take  its  course  up  the  slope 
until  it  comes  to  its  natural  finish. 

In  the  case  of  a  hanging  lie,  the  player 
must  stand  so  that  the  ball  is  very  nearly  op- 
posite her  left  heel.  The  hands  should  be  held 
rather  forward  of  the  ball  and  the  swing 
should  be  fairly  upright.  The  position  of  the 
player  and  the  character  of  the  swing  must 
of  course  be  arranged  according  to  the  slope 


206  TGolf  for  Women 

of  the  ground.  This  is  an  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult shot  to  play,  especially  when  the  ground 
rises  abruptly  behind  the  ball.  As  there  is 
great  danger  in  this  case  of  topping,  the 
player  must  make  a  determined  effort  to  pre- 
vent herself  from  raising  her  head  or  she  will 
ruin  her  shot.  The  club  must  be  brought 
down  to  the  ball  sharply  and,  in  the  fol- 
low-through, both  club  and  player  must  fol- 
low out  after  the  ball.  It  is  not  at  all  prob- 
able that  this  shot  would  be  played  with  the 
brassie.  Unless  the  downward  slope  is  very 
gradual,  the  midiron  would  without  doubt  be 
the  club  chosen,  as  a  wooden  club  would  be 
entirely  unsuited  to  the  work. 


IX 

WHAT   PRODUCES   BAD   FORM 

IT  is  the  ambition  of  every  one  to  play  in 
good  form.  Some  thoughtless  persons 
make  an  idol  of  this,  and  bend  all  their 
energies  toward  attaining  the  appearance  of 
playing  in  correct  style  without  serious  con- 
sideration of  the  fact  that  the  appearance  of 
anything  is,  after  all,  only  the  husk.  Strange 
as  it  may  seem,  it  is  quite  possible  for  a  player 
to  go  through  all  the  requisite  motions  of 
the  strokes  of  golf  in  a  manner  that  is  ap- 
parently faultless,  and  yet  to  lack  that  final 
something  that  would  make  her  a  good  player. 
In  vulgar  parlance,  this  final  something 
would  be  called  "punch."  In  the  language 
of  golf,  the  term  that  most  nearly  ex- 
presses it  is  "correct  timing."  Through- 
out the  physical  action  of  turning  the  body 
and  swinging  the  club  there  must  be  an  un- 

207 


208  Golf  for  Women 

faltering  determination  to  hit  the  ball  that 
will  make  every  movement  focus  on  that  one, 
final  act.  Without  this  concentrated  mental 
effort  a  form  that  appears  perfect  must  fail. 
It  is  necessary,  then,  that  a  player  should 
avoid  striving  for  the  appearance  of  good 
form,  and  should  make  every  effort  to  culti- 
vate that  mental  habit  that  directs  all  her  ener- 
gies to  the  culminating  instant  of  the  stroke — 
the  instant  that  the  club  hits  the  ball.  It 
makes  no  difference  what  she  does  before  or 
after  the  ball  is  hit,  if  she  gets  the  results. 
But — and  this  is  a  very  large  and  important 
"but"— it  is  not  at  all  likely  that  she  will 
consistently  get  good  results  unless  she  learns 
to  manage  her  club  before  and  after  the  mo- 
ment of  impact  in  the  way  that  she  knows, 
both  from  study  and  from  practical  experi- 
ence, is  most  certain  to  send  her  ball  the  dis- 
tance and  direction  that  she  desires  it  to  go. 
It  is  to  gain  this  certainty  that  the  player 
analyzes  her  every  action  and  practices  dili- 
gently that  method  of  play  that  she  believes 
to  be  right.  When  she  has  formed  the  habit 


What  Produces  Bad  Form        209 

of  managing  herself  and  her  club  in  the  man- 
ner that  is  most  nearly  sure  of  producing  the 
shot  she  desires,  she  will  have  attained  the 
only  real  "good  form."  Good  form  is  of 
value  when  gained  incidentally  as  the  result 
of  well  executed  strokes,  but,  if  striven  for 
as  the  end  in  itself,  it  profits  the  player  noth- 
ing. 

"Bad  form"  is  the  result  of  strokes  executed 
wrongly  as  to  grip,  stance,  swing,  or  action 
of  the  body.  It  may  not  be  apparent  to  the 
eye  that  the  player  is  doing  something  that 
she  should  not,  but,  if  her  shots  fail  in  their 
desired  result,  it  is  certain  that  she  is  some- 
how wrong  and  the  cause  of  her  mistake  must 
be  found  and  rectified  before  she  can  regain 
any  confidence  in  her  game.  Notwithstand- 
ing long  and  patient  effort  thoroughly  to 
ground  herself  in  the  rudiments  of  golf,  it  is 
quite  possible  for  a  player  suddenly  to  go 
"off  her  game"  for  some  apparently  unac- 
countable reason.  She  may  be  a  beginner  or 
she  may  be  an  experienced  and  seasoned 
player  but,  nevertheless,  she  is  likely  at  any 


210  Golf  for  Women 

time  to  be  the  subject  of  one  of  these  discour- 
aging attacks.  It  may  be  in  the  use  of  her 
wooden  clubs  that  she  suddenly  develops 
strange  peculiarities,  or  it  may  be  that  her 
irons  refuse  to  act  regularly,  or  she  may  do 
well  enough  through  the  fairway  but  miss  put 
after  put  when  she  reaches  the  green.  What- 
ever form  her  difficulties  take,  she  will  prob- 
ably feel  completely  disheartened  until  she 
has  managed  to  set  herself  right  again. 

The  process  of  finding  where  the  trouble 
lies  is  not  an  easy  one.  Frequently  a  player 
is  absolutely  unable  to  perceive  that  she  is 
doing  anything  unusual  and  yet  her  shots  per- 
sistently go  wrong.  In  such  a  case,  it  saves 
time  and  temper  to  engage  a  professional 
teacher  to  watch  each  shot  and  leave  it  to 
him  to  discover  and  to  correct  the  fault. 
When  it  is  impossible  to  call  in  assistance,  the 
player  must  examine  her  method  of  play  care- 
fully and  in  detail,  and  try  to  find  for  herself 
the  root  of  the  evil. 

It  is  surprising  but  true  that  very  often  she 
will  find  that  she  is  not  keeping  her  eye  on  the 


MRS.  H.  A.  JACKSON 
A  full  swing. 


What  Produces  Bad  Form        211 

ball.  This  is  the  first  rule  of  golf  and  is 
dinned  into  the  player's  ear  at  all  times  until 
from  frequent  repetition  the  words  lose  effect, 
and  are  unconsciously  disregarded.  A  per- 
son who  is  told  that  she  is  not  keeping  her 
eye  fixed  on  the  ball  is  often  resentful  of  the 
criticism;  she  feels  that,  no  matter  what  else 
she  knows  or  does  not  know  about  the  game, 
she  should  not  be  accused  of  neglecting  this 
perfectly  obvious  duty.  If  she  is  honest  with 
herself,  however,  she  will,  in  many  cases,  have 
to  admit  upon  second  thought  that,  although 
she  may  not  be  allowing  her  gaze  to  wander 
entirely  away  from  the  ball,  she  is,  at  least,  not 
looking  at  it  with  the  concentration  of  mind 
that  she  should.  Sometimes  the  player  sud- 
denly realizes  that  she  has  been  looking  at  the 
top  of  the  ball,  or  at  the  ball  as  a  whole,  in- 
stead of  that  portion  that  she  expects  to  hit. 
A  stranger  to  the  game  of  golf  will  some- 
times take  a  club  and  make  a  good,  clean  shot 
with  no  trouble  at  all.  She  is  said  to  have  "be- 
ginner's luck"  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  there 
is  no  luck  in  it.  The  reason  for  her  success 


212  Golf  for  Women 

is  that  she  is  given  a  club  and  told  to  hit  the 
ball  and  that  that  is  all  she  has  in  her  mind; 
her  whole  effort  is  directed  toward  striking 
the  ball,  which  she  promptly  does.  Later, 
when  she  has  been  instructed  in  all  the  details 
of  the  art  of  driving,  she  may  be  able  to  make 
the  swing  in  the  most  graceful  and  approved 
fashion,  she  may  twist  her  body,  rest  on  her 
toes,  and  follow-through  with  great  ease  and 
style ;  she  may  be  able  to  do  it  all — except  that 
she  cannot  make  a  clean  shot.  This  is  a  most 
discouraging  state  in  which  to  find  oneself, 
but,  when  once  in  it,  the  only  course  to  follow 
is  to  forget  everything  and  to  go  back  to  the 
first  principle,  and  keep  one's  whole  attention 
absolutely  fixed  on  the  ball. 

Sometimes  the  player  finds  herself  in 
a  sort  of  mental  maze  on  the  subject  of 
driving;  the  more  she  tries  to  get  out  of 
her  difficulties  the  more  entangled  she  be- 
comes in  all  kinds  of  unexpected  faults, 
and  things  go  from  bad  to  worse.  When  she 
finds  herself  in  such  a  state  of  mind  she  may 
as  well  give  up  at  once  and  practice  putting 


What  Produces  Bad  Form        213 

and  short  approach  shots  for  a  while.  After 
she  has  given  her  mind  a  complete  rest  from 
the  subject  of  driving,  she  can  return  to  the 
tee  and  will  probably  find  that  her  difficulties 
have  fallen  away  and  that  she  is  quite  all  right 
again.  If,  however,  she  has  developed  some 
fault  that  appears  elusive,  she  must  strictly 
apply  herself  to  discovering  what  it  is  and  to 
correcting  it.  It  may  be  her  grip  that  is 
wrong  and,  if  she  suspects  this  may  be  the 
case,  she  should  look  at  her  hands  carefully 
and  make  sure.  Whether  she  is  using  the 
overlapping  grip  or  not,  her  hands  should 
be  so  placed  on  the  club  that  the  shaft  of  the 
club  is  resting  at  the  base  of  her  fingers  and 
the  knuckles  of  both  hands  should  be  facing 
in  opposite  directions  along  the  line  of  flight. 
If  she  has  allowed  the  club  to  drop  back  into 
the  palms  of  her  hands,  or  if  her  knuckles  are 
facing  skyward  or  groundward,  she  can  easily 
see  the  fault  and  correct  it. 

It  may  be  that  her  stance  is  wrong  and  that 
she  has  unconsciously  fallen  into  the  habit  of 
arranging  her  feet  in  some  way,  either  in  re- 


214  Golf  for  Women 

lation  to  each  other  or  in  relation  to  the  ball, 
that  is  different  from  the  position  that  she  had 
previously  adopted  as  the  correct  one  for  her. 
Possibly  she  is  throwing  the  greater  part  of 
her  weight  upon  one  foot  or  the  other  and 
thus  putting  herself  out  of  proper  balance. 
Again,  her  grip  and  stance  may  be  perfectly 
correct,  but  she  may  be  swaying  to  the  right 
as  she  draws  the  club  back  from  the  ball. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  common  of  faults 
and  it  is  very  difficult  to  overcome  once  it  has 
become  fastened  on  a  player.  The  easiest 
suggestion  for  correcting  an  error  is  for  the 
teacher  to  say,  "Don't  do  it,"  but  such  a  simple 
and  obvious  suggestion  is  not  especially  help- 
ful. The  player  may  answer,  "How  can  I 
prevent  doing  it?"  and,  unless  the  coach  has 
some  further  advice  to  offer,  the  player  will 
not  be  particularly  benefited  by  his  services. 
Although  it  is  a  bad  plan  to  correct  one  fault 
by  substituting  another,  in  this  case  it  seems 
necessary.  When  the  player  sways  to  the 
right,  her  weight  will  at  the  same  time  be 
transferred  to  her  right  leg.  If,  therefore, 


What  Produces  Bad  Form        215 

she  will  take  her  stance  with  her  weight  a 
little  more  on  the  left  foot  than  on  the  right, 
and  see  to  it  that  she  does  not  allow  it  to  shift, 
it  will  be  impossible  for  her  to  sway  her  body 
sideways.  When  she  feels  confident  that  she 
is  able  to  keep  her  body  and  her  head  steady, 
she  can  forget  about  keeping  her  weight  on 
the  left  foot,  and  resume  her  play  with  her 
weight  evenly  distributed  as  it  should  be. 

Beginners  are  inclined,  when  addressing  the 
ball,  to  hold  the  arms  too  stiffly  and  the  hands 
too  high.  On  being  corrected  for  this  fault 
they  often  go  to  the  other  extreme  and  drop 
the  hands  too  low.  There  is  a  happy  medium 
that  must  be  adopted  from  the  start  and,  once 
the  habit  is  formed,  the  player  is  not  apt  to 
break  away  from  it,  unless  she  conceives  the 
idea  that  she  can  correct  some  other  fault  by 
changing  the  position  of  her  arms  and  hands. 
It  is  not  easy  to  describe  accurately  the  at- 
titude that  should  be  assumed  while  address- 
ing the  ball.  One  can  simply  say  "Avoid  ex- 
tremes." The  knees  should  be  flexed,  the 
arms  bent  a  little  at  the  elbow,  and  the  hands 


216  Golf  for  Women 

held  so  that  they  appear  neither  to  be  reach- 
ing out  nor  to  be  so  close  to  the  body  that 
the  arms  will  be  cramped  while  they  are 
swinging  the  club.  It  is  necessary,  of  course, 
that  the  club  be  soled  truly  and  if,  in  doing 
this,  the  player  finds  that  her  hands  must  be 
held  awkwardly  in  some  way  the  fault  lies  in 
the  club  and  she  should  get  a  new  one. 

As  the  club  is  carried  back  from  the  ball 
there  must  be  no  suggestion  of  a  straight  arm 
motion.  When  the  club  is  at  the  top  of  the 
swing  it  has  turned  upside  down,  its  heel  is 
toward  the  sky,  and  its  toe  is  pointing  to  the 
ground,  its  face  being  towards  the  line  of 
flight.  It  is  a  common  mistake  to  Be  afraid 
of  beginning  this  turning  movement  too  soon. 
The  player,  having  it  firmly  fixed  in  her  mind 
that  the  club  must  meet  the  ball  squarely,  un- 
consciously tries  to  carry  the  club  back  as  far 
as  possible  with  its  face  toward  the  ball. 
This  is  unnecessary  and  leads  to  various  com- 
plications. The  turning  of  the  wrists  and 
forearms  should  begin  almost  immediately 
after  the  club  leaves  the  ball,  and  the  bending 


What  Produces  Bad  Form        217 

of  the  left  knee  should  follow  closely.  In 
other  words,  the  whole  action  of  winding  up 
the  body  should  begin  soon;  it  should  not  be 
delayed  until  the  lifting  of  the  arms  pulls  the 
body  around. 

If  the  player  feels  convinced  that  she  has 
started  the  upswing  correctly,  she  may  find 
that  she  has  made  some  mistake  on  the 
way  that  will  bring  her  out  of  position  when 
she  reaches  the  top.  It  is  advisable  for  her  to 
ascertain  if  this  is  true  by  pausing  when  she 
reaches  the  top  of  her  swing  and  observing 
carefully  how  the  various  portions  of  her  body 
are  disposed.  The  faults  that  she  is  most 
likely  to  find  are  that  her  left  wrist  is  curved 
out  from  the  shaft  of  the  club  instead  of  being 
below  it,  that  her  right  elbow  is  pointing  out 
too  much  instead  of  lying  fairly  close  to  her 
side,  or  that  she  has  allowed  the  club  head  to 
drop  below  the  point  where  it  must  stop  in 
order  to  have  the  shaft  of  the  club  parallel 
to  the  ground.  It  is  very  possible  that  her 
hands  and  arms  are  in  the  correct  position 
but  that  her  weight  is  decidedly  on  her  right 


218  Golf  for  Women 

leg.  Perhaps  she  has  allowed  her  left  foot  to 
turn  around  so  that  her  heel  is  pointing  out  to- 
ward the  hole.  This  turning  out  of  the 
left  heel  is  a  very  common  error  and  I 
believe  it  arises  partly  from  the  use  of  the 
word  "pivoting"  to  designate  the  movement 
of  the  player's  feet.  When  a  beginner  hears 
about  pivoting  on  the  left  foot  she  naturally 
forms  a  mental  picture  of  the  foot  screwing 
around.  She  will  think  this  and  consequently 
will  turn  her  heel  outward,  unless  some  one 
explains  to  her  that  she  must  simply  raise 
her  heel  and  allow  her  weight  to  fall  across 
the  ball  of  the  foot. 

The  faults  that  result  in  pulling  or  slicing 
the  ball  I  have  dealt  with  in  another  chapter 
so  I  will  not  speak  of  them  again  here.  There 
is  another  fault  in  driving  that  is  common  to 
beginners,  but  not  often  found  among  ex- 
perienced players,  and  that  is  topping  the  ball. 
This  is  caused  usually  by  lifting  the  head  or 
the  body,  but  it  may  also  be  caused  by  sway- 
ing the  body  to  the  right  as  the  club  is  carried 
back  and  not  swaying  it  forward  again  as  the 


What  Produces  Bad  Form        219 

club  comes  down.  It  will  be  seen,  then,  that 
the  whole  plane  of  the  club's  swing  is  moved 
to  the  right  so  that,  when  the  club  head  reaches 
the  lowest  point  in  its  arc,  it  is  not  at  the  ball 
but  some  distance  behind  it.  As  the  club 
head  meets  the  ball  it  is  on  the  rise  and  con- 
sequently the  ball  gets  away  with  a  certain 
amount  of  top  spin  that  causes  it  to  duck  to 
earth  immediately. 

Swaying  of  the  body  sideways,  or  forward 
and  backward,  or  lifting  it,  or  swooping  down 
on  the  ball  are  responsible  for  all  manner  of 
erratic  shots.  Sometimes  the  player  com- 
bines two  or  three  of  these  motions  in  various 
degrees  with  the  result  that  the  club  hits  the 
ground  before  it  reaches  the  ball,  hits  the  top 
of  the  ball  and  then  the  ground,  meets  the  ball 
with  the  toe  or  the  heel,  or  makes  any  one  of 
several  other  disastrous  forms  of  contact. 
These  are  ignominious  enough,  but  the  most 
distressing  fault  of  all  is  when  the  club  simply 
fans  the  air  and  leaves  the  ball  untouched. 
The  remedy  for  this  class  of  faults  lies  in  cul- 
tivating the  habit  of  keeping  the  eye  on  the 


220  Golf  for  Women 

back  of  the  ball  and  holding  the  head  steady. 
It  is  not  easy  to  do  and,  even  after  a  player 
has  apparently  mastered  the  art  of  making 
all  her  body  movement  that  of  twisting,  she  is 
apt  to  fall  back  into  some  of  her  former  bad 
habits.  However,  golf  would  not  be  the  fas- 
cinating game  that  it  is  if  it  were  possible  to 
attain  perfection,  so  the  player  must  never  be 
discouraged,  but  be  pleased  when  she  is  mak- 
ing progress  and  patient  when  she  is  suffering 
from  a  temporary  relapse. 

Too  much  emphasis  cannot  be  laid  upon  the 
fact  that,  from  the  top  of  the  swing,  it  is  im- 
perative for  the  body  to  take  the  lead.  In 
order  to  get  real  power  into  a  stroke  it  is 
necessary  to  draw  immediately  upon  the 
strength  of  the  body.  A  blow  struck  by  the 
arms  alone  is  comparatively  feeble.  To  have 
real  effect  a  blow  struck  by  the  arms  must  be 
backed  by  the  weight  of  the  body,  or  by  the 
strength  of  the  muscles  of  the  torso.  On  ac- 
count of  the  fact  that,  in  order  to  retain  ac- 
curacy, it  is  impossible  in  the  golf  drive  to 
allow  the  body  to  plunge  forward  toward  the 


MRS.  GEORGE  J.  GOULD 

At  the  end  of  the  swing. 


What  Produces  Bad  Form        221 

ball,  the  required  power  must  come  from  those 
muscles  of  the  torso  that  are  brought  into  use 
as  the  body  turns. 

Any  one  can  see  the  evil  results  of  the  ex- 
treme fault  of  allowing  the  hands  to  come 
through  first  and  no  one  could  possibly  ad- 
vocate cultivating  that  error.  Whether  the 
downward  swing  is  started  by  the  arms  or  by 
the  body,  however,  is  impossible  to  ascertain 
by  the  eye.  One  can  judge  only  by  the 
amount  of  force  the  player  has  summoned, 
as  shown  by  the  ball's  flight,  whether  or  not 
she  has  effectively  gotten  her  body  into  the 
blow.  There  has  always  been  a  great  deal  of 
discussion  and  disagreement  on  this  point 
among  players,  and  the  rapidity  with  which 
the  whole  action  of  arms  and  body  takes  place 
has  prevented  positive  proof  of  what  the  best 
drivers  really  do.  Recently,  however,  there 
have  been  a  number  of  cinematograph  pic- 
tures taken  of  champion  players  making  a  full 
shot  with  either  an  iron  or  wooden  club,  and, 
from  a  careful  study  of  a  series  of  these 
photographs,  it  is  possible  to  see  exactly 


222  Golf  for  Women 

where  the  player  starts  the  downward  swing. 

The  consideration  of  such  a  fine  point  as 
this  should  not  concern  the  beginner.  It  is 
only  when  a  player  has  become  so  proficient 
that  her  game  requires  only  the  finishing 
touches  that  she  can  afford  to  indulge  in  try- 
ing for  the  last  factors  of  perfection.  A  be- 
ginner, on  being  told  to  start  the  downward 
swing  from  the  body,  would  surely  lunge  for- 
ward or  swoop  down  on  the  ball.  The  divid- 
ing line  between  starting  the  stroke  with  the 
arms  or  with  the  body  is  so  fine  that  only  an 
experienced  player  can  consciously  command 
either  the  one  or  the  other  method  without 
sacrificing  entirely  the  harmony  of  her  stroke. 
It  is  well,  however,  even  for  a  beginner  to 
understand  the  ultimate  end  that  she  is  striv- 
ing for,  even  if  she  is  not  as  yet  prepared  to 
put  her  knowledge  into  execution. 

To  attain  that  perfect  concert  of  the  va- 
rious portions  of  her  body  that  alone  will  re- 
sult in  the  player's  having  a  smooth  and 
rhythmic  swing  is  indeed  difficult.  To  be 
able  to  apply  force  in  the  way  in  which  it  is  re- 


What  Produces  Bad  Form        223 

quired  demands  an  even  balance  in  the  use  of 
the  arms  that  is  difficult  to  adjust.  In  spite 
of  what  any  one  may  say  about  favoring  the 
left  arm  or  the  right,  no  thoughtful  person 
can  seriously  believe  that  the  best  results  can 
be  obtained  in  any  way  except  that  of  using 
both  arms  equally.  This  question  of  the 
mastery  of  the  right  or  the  left  arm  has  been 
discussed  in  a  previous  chapter,  but  it  is  of 
such  importance  that  a  little  repetition  on  the 
subject  may  well  be  allowed.  To  the  query, 
" Which  arm  or  hand  should  control  the  club?" 
the  answer  must  be,  "Both."  Admonitions 
such  as  are  frequently  heard,  to  the  effect  that 
the  right  arm  and  hand  supply  the  power 
while  the  left  acts  as  guide,  or  vice  versa,  are 
entirely  impractical  and,  if  followed,  would 
lead  to  an  uncertain  and  ineffectual  style  of 
play.  This  is  especially  true  in  the  case  of 
women  players  because  they  particularly 
need  the  united  strength  of  both  arms  as  well 
as  the  smoothness  of  swing  that  can  be  ob- 
tained only  by  the  combined  effort  of  the 
right  and  the  left. 


224  Golf  for  Women 

The  driver  and  the  brassie  are  so  nearly 
alike  that  the  rules  that  govern  the  use  of  the 
one  are,  with  a  few  slight  changes,  applicable 
to  the  other.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  the 
faults  that  a  player  may  develop  in  using  her 
driver  are  almost  sure  to  be  repeated  in  mak- 
ing her  brassie  shots.  Frequently  a  player 
who  finds  herself  "off  on  her  wooden  clubs" 
will  abandon  her  brassie  for  a  while  and  use 
her  cleek  or  mid-iron  through  the  fairway. 
The  cleek,  as  I  have  said  before,  is  a  most 
valuable  club,  but  on  account  of  its  uncom- 
promising nature  it  is  not  so  generally  popu- 
lar, especially  among  women  golfers,  as  the 
mid-iron.  The  mid-iron  is  a  comfortable 
companion,  and  seldom  fails  to  accomplish 
what  is  expected  of  it.  Of  course  it  happens 
sometimes  that  a  player  will  go  completely 
wrong  on  her  iron  shots  but,  on  the  whole,  the 
iron  is  the  most  reliable  club  in  the  bag. 

The  mashie,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  source 
of  a  great  deal  of  trouble.  This  is  partly 
owing  to  the  fact  that  a  mashie  is  used  gen- 
erally in  situations  where  accuracy  is  re- 


What  Produces  Bad  Form        225 

quired.  A  few  yards  here  or  there,  so  long 
as  the  ball  has  good  direction,  does  not  gener- 
ally make  a  great  deal  of  difference  in  a 
driver  or  brassie  shot,  but  when  the  mashie 
is  used,  especially  in  approach  shots,  the  dif- 
ference of  a  few  feet,  or  sometimes  a  few  in- 
ches, will  mean  success  or  failure. 

After  the  freedom  of  the  full  swing  of  the 
wooden  clubs  or  the  slightly  restricted  swing 
of  the  cleek  or  iron,  the  player  is  inclined  to 
feel  cramped  and  stiff  when  she  takes  her 
position  for  a  mashie  shot.  A  half,  or  at  most 
a  three-quarter  swing,  is  all  that  should  ever 
be  used  for  this  club.  If  greater  length  is 
required  than  can  be  obtained  by  a  decidedly 
curtailed  stroke  it  is  practically  certain  that 
some  other  club  should  be  employed.  No 
advantage  can  be  obtained  by  forcing  a 
mashie  shot,  nor,  for  that  matter,  should  any 
other  club  be  pushed  beyond  its  natural  limi- 
tations. It  should  be  kept  in  mind  that  very 
little  body  motion  is  needed,  and  that  the  shot 
is  accomplished  chiefly  by  the  arms  and  wrists. 
This  recommendation  is  a  dangerous  one  to 


226  Golf  for  Women 

make  because,  if  followed  too  closely,  it  may 
result  in  a  stiffness  that  is  very  undesirable. 
It  is  impossible  to  describe  exactly  how  much 
or  how  little  the  body  is  used ;  the  player  must 
work  out  the  problem  for  herself.  There  are 
certain  pitfalls,  however,  that  must  be  guarded 
against  and  a  brief  consideration  of  them  will 
be  of  some  service. 

The  left  shoulder  must  not  be  dropped  but 
must  swing  around  parallel  to  the  ground  as 
the  arms  are  drawn  back.  The  right  shoul- 
der, as  the  club  is  on  its  downward  journey, 
must  not  be  lowered  or  the  club  head  will 
doubtless  dig  into  the  turf.  This  inclination, 
common  to  all  beginners,  to  scoop  up  the  ball 
is  the  cause  of  a  great  many  bungled  shots. 
It  is  only  by  the  strongest  effort  of  will  that  a 
player  can  train  herself  to  allow  the  club  to 
do  the  work  without  an  assisting  downward 
swoop  of  the  right  side  of  the  body.  If  the 
right  heel  is  kept  flat  on  the  ground,  it  will 
help  to  curb  the  natural  inclination  to  drop 
the  right  shoulder  and  bend  the  right  knee 
unduly. 


What  Produces  Bad  Form        227 

The  stance  for  a  mashie  shot  should  vary 
with  the  distance  to  be  covered.  The  general 
rule  is  that  the  shorter  the  distance  the  more 
open  the  stance.  The  club  should  be  drawn 
back,  for  a  straight  shot,  along  the  line  of 
flight  and  should  follow  out  after  the  ball. 
Frequently  players  commit  the  fault  of  bring- 
ing the  club  around  to  the  left  after  the  ball 
has  been  hit,  which  is  a  mistake  carefully  to  be 
avoided.  During  the  upward  swing  the  right 
elbow  must  be  kept  fairly  close  to  the  side 
and,  as  the  stroke  is  finished,  the  left  elbow 
should  be  pointing  toward  the  hole.  In  mak- 
ing a  cut  mashie  shot  the  club  head  crosses 
the  intended  line  of  flight  as  in  the  sliced 
drive.  Some  instructors  suggest  that  while 
making  this  shot  the  toe  of  the  club  be  laid 
out  so  as  to  counteract  a  possible  tendency  of 
the  ball  to  go  to  the  left,  but  such  advice 
should  be  regarded  warily.  If  the  face  of 
the  club  meets  the  ball  in  any  way  except  at 
right  angles  to  the  line  of  flight,  inaccuracy 
of  direction  is  almost  sure  to  follow. 

As  the  object  to  be  attained  in  making 


228  Golf  for  Women 

pitch  shots  is  that  the  ball  should  rise  sud- 
denly into  the  air,  it  is  necessary  that  the  lower 
edge  of  the  club's  face  should  cut  between  the 
ball  and  the  ground.  To  insure  "getting 
under"  the  ball  sufficiently  the  eye  should  be 
fixed,  not  on  the  ball,  but  on  the  ground  im- 
mediately behind  the  ball.  The  most  con- 
centrated attention  is  necessary,  as  the  slight- 
est wavering  of  eye  or  of  mind  will  upset  the 
nicest  calculations. 

I  have,  I  believe,  mentioned  the  points  on 
which  the  golfer  is  most  apt  to  fail  when  using 
a  mashie,  and  a  great  deal  of  what  I  have  said 
applies  equally  well  when  a  niblick  is  the  club 
in  hand.  The  getting  out  of  bunkers,  sand 
traps,  or  any  extremely  difficult  lie  tests  the 
skill  and  often  the  ingenuity  of  the  player. 
Most  remarkable  stances  have  to  be  adopted 
occasionally  and  the  player  has  to  make  up 
her  mind  to  do  the  best  she  can  in  a  bad  situa- 
tion. If  she  has  thoroughly  mastered  the 
underlying  principles  of  the  use  of  each  club 
and  will  maintain  an  unruffled  spirit,  she  will 


What  Produces  Bad  Form        229 

make  a  creditable  shot,  no  matter  how  great 
are  the  difficulties. 

It  is  the  combination  of  knowledge,  prac- 
tice, determination,  and  good  temper  that 
makes  the  good  golfer.  As  a  corollary  to 
these,  there  arrives  a  certain  sense  that  might 
be  called  the  "sixth  sense"  of  the  game  of 
golf.  This  is  more  than  a  sense  of  direction 
or  of  distance — it  is  a  sense  of  place.  As  an 
expert  marksman  can  hit  his  target  without 
taking  aim  along  the  sights  of  his  rifle  or  re- 
volver, so  an  expert  golfer  can  lay  his  or  her 
ball  in  the  place  selected  by  the  exercise  of  a 
certain  faculty  that  is  acquired  only  after  long 
experience.  This  faculty  is  the  final  and  in- 
definable attribute  of  the  greatest  experts  and 
comes,  like  "good  form,"  not  from  conscious 
effort  but  as  the  result  of  the  blending  to- 
gether of  all  things  that  go  to  make  the 
finished  golfer. 


X 

SOME  WOMEN  GOLFERS  AND  THEIR  PLAY 

WOMAN  is  prone  to  keep  an  eye 
on  the  fashionable  modiste  when 
it  comes  to  style  in  dress,  which 
causes  man  (with  his  stiff  collar,  temperature 
regardless)  to  smile  or  to  ridicule.  Woman 
is  as  independent  as  man  when  it  comes  to  the 
style  of  her  golfing  stroke  in  which,  like  man, 
she  employs  many  different  methods  to  get 
the  desired  result.  Perhaps,  in  a  collective 
sense,  she  has  not  taken  her  golf  quite  so  seri- 
ously as  man,  for  her  social  and  home  duties 
do  not  allow  her  quite  the  same  amount  of 
time  to  brood  or  enthuse  over  the  day's  play. 
She  does  not  linger  so  long  about  the  club- 
house after  the  round,  to  dilate  upon  the 
three  puts  that  she  took  on  No.  6  green  or 
the  misfortune  of  taking  two  shots  to  get  out 
of  the  footprint  in  a  bunker,  and  she  is  not  so 

230 


MRS.  LILIAN  HYDE  FEITNER 
Getting  away  a  long  brassie. 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play    231 

apt  to  give  the  impression  that  she  has  lost 
her  last  friend  because  of  defeat  in  a  cham- 
pionship round.  The  woman  golfer  is  a 
cheerful  loser. 

In  comparison  with  the  time  that  she 
has  given  to  golf  from  the  competitive  angle, 
her  progress  has  been  rapid  and  it  would  seem 
as  if  each  year  she  is  drawing  gradually  nearer 
to  the  standard  of  the  sex  which,  from  time 
immemorial,  has  devoted  itself  to  athletic 
pastimes.  Whether  golf  is  to  be  the  first 
athletic  pastime  in  which  woman  eventually 
will  take  her  place  on  a  plane  with  man  is 
problematical,  but  the  possibilities  are  better 
than  in  perhaps  any  other  sport.  It  might  be 
so  in  shooting,  except  that  woman's  natural 
tastes  hardly  will  lead  her  into  that  field  in 
such  numbers  as  into  the  field  of  golf. 

Up  to  the  present  time,  woman's  inferiority 
in  the  Royal  and  Ancient  game  has  been 
largely  a  matter  of  physical  strength.  She 
has  not  had  the  generations  of  muscle-build- 
ing toil  or  athletic  activities  to  develop  along 
these  lines.  Even  where  endowed  abnormally 


232  Golf  for  Women 

in  the  matter  of  muscle  and  strength,  she  has 
not  had  the  actual  training,  or  the  athletic 
heritage,  to  use  her  strength  to  best  advantage 
in  the  pastimes  of  the  field.  What  she  can 
do,  however,  without  this  heritage  or  long 
training  is  being  demonstrated  more  and  more 
in  golf,  where  in  certain  individual  instances 
she  is  vieing  with  man  in  ability  to  hit  the  golf 
ball  for  remarkable  distances.  One  reason 
for  this,  of  course,  is  that  distance  in  golf  may 
be  in  one  instance  a  matter  of  brute  strength 
and  in  the  other  a  matter  of  smoothness  of 
stroke,  plus  suppleness  of  muscles  and  the 
knack  of  hitting  the  ball  at  just  that  second 
when  the  clubhead  is  traveling  at  its  maximum 
pace, — in  other  words,  perfect  timing.  Few 
men  in  the  country  can  drive  a  ball  as  far  as 
Mrs.  Quentin  Feitner  (Miss  Lillian  B. 
Hyde)  of  Brooklyn,  but  many  who  normally 
would  play  the  odd  with  her  after  the  tee  shots 
might  leave  her  far  behind  in  the  matter  of 
distance  out  of  a  bad  lie  in  heavy  grass,  where 
strength  of  forearm  and  wrist  are  an  absolute 
requirement. 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play    233 

Woman  is  naturally  more  of  a  stylist  in 
golf  than  is  man,  or  to  put  it  another  way,  a 
greater  percentage  of  her  sex  hit  the  ball  with 
that  easy  graceful  motion  of  a  Vardon  than 
can  be  said  of  the  rank  and  file  of  men.  One 
of  the  reasons  doubtless  is  that  a  greater  per- 
centage of  women  than  men  begin  their  golf- 
ing career  by  taking  lessons  of  a  professional 
and  practice  more  assiduously.  If  the  pro- 
fessional under  whom  they  study  has  any  real 
fundamental  knowledge  of  golf  for  begin- 
ners, and  can  impart  that  knowledge  lucidly, 
the  pupil  at  least  has  the  advantage  of  start- 
ing on  sound  principles. 

That  women  golfers  come  naturally  by 
their  fortunate  habit  of  taking  an  easy  swing, 
gaining  their  distance  on  timing,  is  exampled 
in  the  achievements  of  some  of  the  foremost 
golfers  in  the  early  days  of  women's  competi- 
tion. Lady  Margaret  Scott,  winner  of  the 
first  three  championships  held  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Ladies'  Golf  Union,  of  the 
British  Isles,  in  1893,  '94  and  '95,  is  referred 
to  by  writers  of  her  day  as  "possessed  of  a 


234  Golf  for  Women 

fine,  full,  easy  swing  which  won  universal 
admiration.  Her  play  throughout  the  com- 
petition (1893)  was  almost  faultless."  Mrs. 
Ryder  Richardson,  semi-finalist  in  the  British 
ladies  championship  of  1895  at  Portrush, 
when  she  was  4  up  at  the  turn,  only  to  lose 
the  match  by  2  up,  also  was  noted  for  her 
"easy,  graceful  style."  As  a  stylist,  there 
never  has  been  seen  on  an  American  course 
a  girl  who  more  closely  typified  the  Vardon 
grace  and  ease  of  stroke,  with  perfection  of 
timing,  than  Miss  Florence  Teacher,  who 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1909  with  Mrs. 
Dorothy  Campbell  Hurd,  Miss  Grace  Semple 
and  one  or  two  other  British  girls,  that  being 
the  year  that  Mrs.  Hurd  (then  Dorothy 
Campbell)  won  the  American  title  for  the  first 
time.  While  it  was  Mrs.  Hurd  who  won  the 
title,  it  was  Miss  Teacher  whose  play  was 
watched  with  profound  admiration.  This 
fairly  tall,  wonderfully  lithe  and  graceful 
wielder  of  the  golf  club,  champion  of  Scot- 
land in  1907,  had  a  full  swing  which  was  as 
smooth-working  as  a  well-oiled  piece  of 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play     235 

machinery.  She  used  a  driver  with  the  dread- 
naught  head,  so  large  that  it  was,  first,  a 
cause  of  constant  wonderment  that  she  could 
swing  it  at  all;  second,  that  she  could  get  the 
head  through  after  hitting  the  ball,  so  as  to 
keep  the  ball  on  the  line  instead  of  slicing  it 
badly,  or  getting  off  the  line  to  the  left  by 
meeting  the  ball  too  late.  The  secret  was 
that  Miss  Teacher  was  in  perfect  communion 
with  the  club,  so  to  speak.  She  had  her 
stroke  perfected  to  the  point  where  each  time 
it  appeared  to  follow  a  long  familiar  groove 
both  in  going  back  and  in  coming  down,  leav- 
ing Miss  Teacher  the  sole  task  of  keeping  her 
eye  on  the  ball  and  her  body  from  swaying. 
It  naturally  would  seem  quite  essential  that 
a  woman,  unless  abnormally  large  and  strong, 
should  get  a  full  swing  for  her  distance,  but 
it  does  not  always  work  out  that  way.  As 
reference  has  just  been  made  to  Mrs.  Dor- 
othy Campbell  Hurd,  we  will  take  her  as 
an  example.  Winner  of  so  many  champion- 
ship titles,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  that 
she  might  find  it  difficult  to  enumerate  them 


236  Golf  for  Women 

all  offhand,  she  rarely  has  been  consistently 
and  pronouncedly  outdriven,  though  she  is  of 
comparatively  small  stature  and  played  in  her 
days  of  championship  supremacy  with  a  back 
swing  possibly  a  trifle  more  than  half.  Where 
she  held  her  own  with  the  majority  of  her 
competitors  in  the  long  game  was  in  the  tre- 
mendous snap  of  her  downward  stroke,  in 
which  not  one  ounce  of  her  strength  was 
wasted.  Had  Mrs.  Hurd  lengthened  her 
swing,  there  is  the  bare  possibility  that  she 
could  have  added  distance,  but  with  that  short 
back  swing  and  not  exaggerated  follow 
through,  she  kept  the  ball  as  near  the  middle 
of  the  course,  and  as  far  from  trouble,  as  Mr. 
Walter  J.  Travis  in  the  ranks  of  the  men. 
The  consequence  was  that  in  the  long  run  she 
probably  gained  as  much  distance  from  the 
tees  as  the  women  of  longer  swing  but  less 
control.  Her  short  swing,  moreover,  was 
admirably  adapted  to  the  firmly  hit  and  accur- 
ately placed  iron  shots  of  which  she  and  a 
number  of  other  British  women  golfers  are 
such  masters.  She  and  Mrs.  Bruce  D.  Smith 


MISS  MARION  HOLLINS 
Bunkered  and  well  out. 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play    237 

(winner  of  the  United  States  women's  cham- 
pionship in  1905,  as  Miss  Pauline  Mackay) 
are  two  of  much  the  same  type, — the  short 
back  swing,  snappy  downstroke,  modified 
follow  through,  with  accuracy  and  match  play 
courage  as  much  factors  in  their  success  as 
their  actual  stroke  ability. 

The  reverse  of  Mrs.  Hurd  and  Mrs.  Smith, 
in  a  sense,  is  Mrs.  H.  A.  (Harley)  Jackson, 
winner  of  the  women's  national  in  1908  and 
1914.  She  is  a  large  woman,  with  an  upright 
swing  of  quite  fair  length  and  one  who  might 
be  expected  to  hit  a  tremendously  long  ball. 
Mrs.  Jackson  won  two  championships  be- 
cause, like  Mrs.  Hurd  and  Miss  Mackay,  she 
preferred  to  sacrifice  distance  for  the  sake  of 
accuracy.  Her  stroke  from  beginning  to  end 
is  smooth  and  under  supreme  control  at  every 
point.  Could  she  get  more  wrist  action  and 
snap  into  her  swing  as  it  comes  to  the  horizon- 
tal, nearing  the  ball,  she  would  drive  yards 
ahead  of  Mrs.  Hurd,  but  her  stroke,  while  so 
beautifully  smooth,  is  what  might  be  termed 
"tame."  It  has  none  of  that  fire  that  comes 


238  Golf  for  Women 

of  calling  upon  muscles  to  give,  at  just  the 
final  moment,  not  only  their  normal  function 
of  sweeping  that  ball  away  from  the  little  pile 
of  sand,  but  also  their  concentrated  force  at 
the  moment  of  attack.  There  was,  from  the 
other  point  of  view,  Mrs.  C.  T.  Stout  (nee 
Genevieve  Hecker),  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
of  all  the  American  women  golfers,  a  girl  who 
might  well  have  won  the  British  women's 
championship  had  she  gone  abroad  in  the  hey- 
day of  her  game.  There  was  a  girl  who,  in 
spite  of  her  shortness  of  stature,  used  almost 
a  regulation  St.  Andrews  swing  of  the  old 
days  of  the  gutty  ball,  with  all  the  fire,  dash 
and  abandon  of  a  violin  virtuoso  playing  a 
favorite  rhapsody.  She  swung  as  if  the 
action  typified  the  joy  of  living,  little  caring, 
as  the  spectator  viewed  it,  where  the  ball 
went  and  for  that  matter,  playing  out  of 
trouble  with  extraordinary  power  for  one  of 
her  size,  a  distinct  reminder,  in  all  the  essen- 
tials of  her  game,  of  Mr.  Jerome  D.  Travers. 
Miss  Rhona  Adair,  the  first  of  the  British 
women  champions  who  really  made  a  pro- 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play     239 

nounced  impression  upon  American  golfing 
enthusiasts,  upon  the  occasion  of  her  visit  a 
dozen  years  ago,  was  another  like  Mrs.  Stout 
who  hit  at  the  ball  as  if  her  very  heart  and 
soul  were  in  the  stroke.  She  drove  with  an 
open  stance,  with  knees  a  trifle  bent  at  all 
stages  of  the  stroke ;  the  club  was  started  back 
with  the  left  hand,  for  about  a  three-quarters 
swing,  but,  when  the  head  came  down  on  the 
ball,  it  was  with  the  force  imparted  about 
equally  with  both  hands,  for  Miss  Adair  was 
among  the  women  who  believed  in  letting  her 
right  hand  know  what  her  left  was  doing. 

While  the  rank  and  file  of  the  women 
golfers  are  taught  (quite  wrongly,  I  believe) 
to  start  the  club  back  with  the  left  hand  and 
allow  that  to  be  the  leading  factor  in  all  of 
their  wooden  shots,  if  not  pretty  much  the 
only  factor,  there  are,  in  following  this  prac- 
tice, a  few  notable  exceptions,  of  which  the 
greatest  in  this  country  probably  are  Miss 
Margaret  and  Miss  Harriet  S.  Curtis,  sisters 
and  Boston  golfers  who  have  held  the  national 
title  four  times  between  them,  Margaret 


240  Golf  for  Women 

three  times  and  Harriet  once.  For  years 
Miss  Margaret  Curtis  held  the  distinction  of 
being  rated  as  the  longest  hitter  in  the  wo- 
men's ranks  this  side  of  the  water,  and  it  was 
not  until  the  advent  of  Mrs.  Quentin  Feitner 
with  her  tremendous  distances  that  Miss 
Curtis  had  to  grant  superiority.  Miss  Mar- 
garet Curtis  and  her  sister  are  largely  self- 
taught  in  golf,  acquiring  knowledge  through 
assiduous  practice  and  perhaps  occasional 
helpful  suggestions  from  their  brother  James 
Curtis,  himself  a  fine  golfer  a  few  years  back. 
Very  likely  it  was  lack  of  professional  teach- 
ing that  led  the  Curtis  sisters  to  get  the  weight 
of  their  stroke  in  with  the  right  hand.  They 
are  unusually  robust  girls,  to  start  with,  and 
their  ability  at  long  hitting  has  been  more  or 
less  of  the  downright  slugging  order,  like 
that  of  a  strong  man,  than  the  sweeping,  well- 
timed  stroke  of  the  girls  of  slighter  frame 
who  hit  a  good  tee  shot.  Both  Curtis  girls 
take  a  fairly  full  swing  at  the  ball  and  their 
blow  is  distinctly  a  hit,  as  contrasted  with  a 
sweep.  The  chief  trouble  with  their  style  of 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play     241 

stroke,  especially  so  in  the  case  of  Miss  Mar- 
garet Curtis  when  she  is  a  little  off  her  game, 
is  the  tendency  to  dip  the  right  shoulder  in 
the  act  of  trying  to  get  just  a  little  more 
force  into  the  blow.  This  of  course  is  fatal, 
for  the  moment  she  dips  that  shoulder,  the 
club  is  almost  certain  to  hit  the  ground  too 
soon  and  result  in  a  badly  schlaff ed  shot,  with- 
out distance.  That  was  exactly  what  hap- 
pened when  Miss  Curtis  met  Miss  Vera 
Ramsay  in  the  final  of  the  Boston  District 
women's  championship  of  1915.  The  three 
times  national  champion  simply  could  not 
hold  herself  up  on  the  swing,  or  else,  in  noting 
what  was  wrong  in  her  game,  she  involuntarily 
overdid  the  part  of  keeping  the  right  shoulder 
up  on  the  downward  swing  and  consequently 
topped  the  ball. 

In  playing  the  irons,  Miss  Margaret  Curtis 
at  her  best  is  about  as  fine  an  example  of  a 
woman  golfer  that  this  country  has  bred,  for 
it  is  on  the  iron  play  that  the  American  girls 
have  been  so  deficient  as  compared  to  their 
English  cousins  in  the  upper  rank.  The 


242  Golf  for  Women 

Curtises  are  not  afraid  of  allowing  the  heads 
of  their  irons  to  hit  the  turf,  for  they  have  the 
wrist  and  forearm  power  to  take  the  turf  and 
yet  get  the  clubhead  through.  It  is  a  curious 
fact,  and  beautifully  illustrative  of  what  con- 
centration, determination  and  practice  will 
do,  to  note  the  evolution  in  Miss  Margaret 
Curtis's  short  game.  As  far  back  as  1902, 
the  year  that  the  national  championship  was 
first  held  at  The  Country  Club,  Brookline, 
Mass.,  Miss  Curtis,  then  a  plump  girl  in  her 
teens,  familiarly  known  as  "Peggy,"  was 
touted  as  a  title  possibility.  Her  long  game 
was  wonderful,  but  her  short  game  atrocious, 
especially  mashie  shots  from  distances  around 
fifty  yards,  also  her  long  approach  puts. 
She  did  not  seem  to  have  the  remotest  con- 
ception of  the  innate  "feeling"  of  the  club  on 
a  short  shot  and  on  a  30-foot  approach  put 
she  was  just  as  apt  to  be  thirty  feet  over  as 
anywhere  else.  The  same  trouble  pursued 
her  in  1903  and  1904,  in  each  of  which  years 
she  again  was  looked  upon  as  a  prospective 
champion,  only  to  discourage  her  chief  ad- 


MRS.  RONALD  H.  BARLOW 
At  the  end  of  full  swing. 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play     243 

mirers  by  her  failure  to  master  that  delicacy 
of  stroke  so  essential  to  the  short  game  and 
the  putting  green.  She  became  the  title 
runner-up  in  1905,  to  Mrs.  Bruce  D.  Smith, 
and  her  failure  to  win  the  title  on  that  occa- 
sion led  the  critics  to  break  forth  into  doleful 
verbiage  to  the  effect  that  now  it  was  a  cer- 
tainty that  Miss  Curtis  need  never  again  be 
taken  seriously  in  a  national  tourney. 

The  reverse  of  the  picture  was  presented  in 
full  measure  at  the  women's  national  of  1911, 
at  the  Baltusrol  Golf  Club,  where  Miss  Curtis 
and  Mrs.  Hurd  met  in  the  semi-finals.  Mrs. 
Hurd  up  to  that  time  had  swept  all  before 
her  in  this  country  and  was  considered  unbeat- 
able. What  happened  was  that  Miss  Mar- 
garet Curtis  won  the  match  by  4  and  3  and 
the  elements  of  her  success,  probably  to  her 
own  supreme  satisfaction,  were  in  the  suprem- 
acy of  her  short  game.  In  other  words,  it 
was  through  mastery  over  Mrs.  Hurd  in  her 
own  stronghold,  accurate  approaching  and 
good  putting,  that  the  Boston  girl  gave  the 
Briton  her  first  championship  defeat  this  side 


244  Golf  for  Women 

of  the  Atlantic.  From  that  time  criticisms 
of  Miss  Curtis's  short  game  virtually  ceased, 
except  in  an  occasional  instance  such  as  every 
good  golfer  experiences,  when  nothing  goes 
right.  Application,  pure  and  simple,  is  what 
did  it. 

For  fear  that  the  impression  might  be  given 
that  it  is  downright  physical  strength  that 
enables  the  Curtis  girls  to  get  so  much  dis- 
tance through  the  "punch"  from  the  right 
arm,  there  can  be  presented  as  another  ex- 
ample of  the  girl  who  derives  a  goodly  part 
of  her  distance  from  the  right  hand,  Miss 
Fanny  C.  Osgood,  another  Boston  girl  of 
comparatively  slight  build.  Miss  Osgood 
hits  one  of  the  longest  irons  of  any  woman 
golfer  and  while  apparently  she  gets  both 
arms  about  equally  into  the  stroke,  it  un- 
doubtedly is  by  pushing  out  with  her  right  at 
the  moment  of  impact,  as  well  as  applying 
extra  power  with  it,  that  she  gets  quite  a 
decided  hook  to  the  ball  and  an  unusual  run 
when  the  ground  is  the  least  bit  hard.  She 
probably  learned  early  in  her  golfing  experi- 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play    245 

ence  that  it  was  necessary  for  her  to  get  in 
the  punch  with  the  right  arm  to  hold  her  own 
in  distance  with  girls  of  the  Curtis  type,  but 
she  also  learned  the  equally  important  lesson 
that  if  it  is  the  hook  which  gives  additional 
distance,  it  is  the  same  hook  which  leads  to 
all  sorts  of  difficulties  unless  under  the  best 
of  control.  That  Miss  Osgood  can  control 
it  extraordinarily  well  has  been  proved  time 
and  again,  her  record  in  the  Boston  District 
in  winning  several  championships,  against 
fields  inclusive  of  the  Curtis  girls,  the  late 
Mrs.  E.  C.  Wheeler,  Jr.,  Mrs.  H.  A.  Jack- 
son and  others  of  the  country's  leaders,  being 
proof  enough. 

This  country  of  course  has  an  especially 
high  opinion  of  the  play  of  British  girls  be- 
cause so  many  of  the  best  from  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic  have  visited  the  United  States, 
such  as  Miss  Rhona  Adair,  Miss  Lottie  Dod, 
Miss  Muriel  Dodd,  Mrs.  Hurd,  Miss  Flor- 
ence Teacher,  Miss  Gladys  Ravenscroft,  Miss 
Vera  Ramsay  and  Mrs.  W.  A.  Gavin.  An 
admirable  array  they  are,  wonderful  golfers 


246  Golf  for  Women 

all,  differing  in  some  of  their  methods,  but 
alike  in  their  ability  to  play  up  to  the  standard 
of  women's  par  almost  day  in  and  day  out. 
If  Miss  Teacher  might  be  considered  the 
essence  of  grace  and  rhythm  in  her  wooden 
club  stroke,  Miss  Gladys  Ravenscroft  might 
be  likened  to  the  "Ted"  Ray  of  the  irons. 
She  is  a  woman  of  the  Amazon  mold,  a  per- 
fect picture  of  robust  health.  When  she  took 
an  iron  in  her  hand,  the  spectator  indubitably 
felt  that  something  had  to  go.  The  top  of 
her  swing  on  a  fairly  long  iron  rarely  carried 
the  club  back  further  than  horizontal  with  the 
shoulders,  with  the  left  wrist  curved  sharply 
inward,  ready  to  come  back  with  a  snap  at 
the  proper  moment.  She  held  her  body 
rigid,  her  eye  on  the  ball  religiously  and  went 
into  the  turf  in  just  the  same  manner  as  do 
the  male  professionals. 

Two  notable  exponents  of  the  supremacy 
of  British  women's  golf,  of  more  recent  date, 
are  Miss  Vera  Ramsay,  twice  holder  of  the 
Boston  District  title,  and  Mrs.  W.  A.  Gavin, 
1916  winner  of  the  women's  Eastern  cham- 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play    247 

pionship,  a  medal  play  competition.  Miss 
Ramsay,  a  girl  endowed  physically  along  the 
lines  of  Miss  Ravenscroft,  has  a  touch  of  the 
professional  male  in  the  way  she  "hits"  the 
ball,  whereas  Mrs.  Gavin,  compact  but  rather 
short,  is  of  the  type  which  gets  distance 
through  smoothness  of  stroke,  plus  perfect 
timing.  Miss  Ramsay  stands  up  square  to 
the  ball  in  the  most  business-like  fashion, 
makes  up  her  mind  almost  instantly  as  to 
what  club  is  best  suited  for  the  lie  and  the 
distance  to  be  covered,  goes  back  about  three- 
quarters  with  the  upright  swing  and  when  she 
hits  the  ball  she  puts  into  it  every  ounce  of 
force  to  be  derived  from  a  powerful  right 
shoulder.  She  has  an  unusually  pronounced 
follow  through,  which  is  the  natural  result  of 
the  way  she  gets  that  right  shoulder  into  the 
stroke.  The  same  characteristic  applies  to 
her  irons.  How  the  weight  of  a  club  can 
affect  the  play  was  illustrated  in  Miss  Ram- 
say's game  in  the  1916  Women's  Eastern 
championship.  -She  was  trying  out  a  new 
driver,  weighted  more  heavily  in  the  head 


248  Golf  for  Women 

than  her  old  one.  It  was  noticeable  that  with 
abnormal  frequency,  for  her,  the  ball  was 
being  pushed  out  to  the  right,  not  exactly  a 
slice,  but  simply  off  the  line.  It  was  due, 
undoubtedly,  to  the  fact  that  she  did  not  quite 
have  the  feel  of  the  heavier  clubhead,  which 
was  a  fraction  of  a  second  late  in  going 
through  after  its  contact  with  the  ball,  as 
compared  with  her  old  and  slightly  lighter 
club.  On  her  short  mashie  shots,  Miss  Ram- 
say stands  with  her  feet  just  far  enough  apart 
to  give  a  firm  stance,  takes  her  club  back  a 
short  distance,  compared  with  the  average 
girl,  and  puts  in  the  necessary  punch  almost 
exclusively  with  the  wrists.  She  plays  to  hit 
the  ball  first  and  then  have  the  clubhead  take 
the  turf,  with  resultant  backspin. 

Mrs.  Gavin  is  of  a  different  type,  except 
that  like  Miss  Ramsay  she  stands  square  to 
the  ball,  with  feet  fairly  well  apart  and  firmly 
placed.  In  fact,  Mrs.  Gavin  is  one  of  the 
most  careful  persons  in  the  matter  of  her 
stance  that  the  world  of  women's  golf  knows. 
She  never  attempts  to  start  her  swing  to  hit 


MRS.  C.  H.  VANDERBECK 
Playing  out  of  the  sand. 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play     249 

the  ball  until  she  feels  absolutely  satisfied  that 
her  feet  are  firmly  emplaced  and  that,  on  the 
tee,  the  ball  is  on  a  spot  least  likely  to  affect 
the  shot  adversely.  Her  backward  swing  for 
the  drive  is  the  essence  of  deliberation  in  a 
golf  stroke.  As  the  club  goes  back,  to  quite 
a  full  degree,  the  free  elasticity  of  the  body 
is  shown  and,  when  the  clubhead  comes  back 
on  the  ball,  it  is  with  a  smoothness  which 
exemplifies  how  well  Mrs.  Gavin  has  learned 
the  lesson  of  allowing  the  club  to  do  the  work, 
supplemented  by  the  power  imparted  by 
supple  wrists.  Watching  Mrs.  Gavin  take 
her  driver  back  on  the  swing,  so  slowly  and 
deliberately  to  the  top  of  the  stroke,  is  almost 
to  gain  the  impression  that  she  has  a  certain 
set  of  muscles  which  click  a  message  of 
"Everything  O.  K.  at  this  station"  before  the 
club  continues  its  journey.  That  delibera- 
tiveness  continues  as  the  clubhead  starts  down- 
ward and  there  is  nothing  deliberate  about  it, 
although  nothing  jerky,  when  the  blow  goes 
home.  Then  Mrs.  Gavin  comes  forward  on 
her  left  foot  with  no  uncertainty  as  to  where 


250  Golf  for  Women 

her  weight  has  been  transferred,  to  lose  none 
of  the  power. 

That  there  are  no  hard  and  fast  rules  gov- 
erning women's  play  as  judged  from  results, 
is  exampled  in  the  styles  of  those  already 
referred  to,  but  another  illustration  may  be 
taken  from  the  play  of  Mrs.  R.  H.  Barlow, 
the  Philadelphia  woman.  Mrs.  Barlow  has 
one  peculiarity  almost  exclusively.  Instead 
of  bending  the  left  knee  at  the  beginning  of 
the  back  swing,  she  holds  it  rigid  until  practi- 
cally at  the  top  of  the  swing.  Then  comes 
the  bend  of  the  knee,  with  surprising  sudden- 
ness. A  natural  impression  of  this  eccen- 
tricity, at  first  glance,  would  be  that  it  would 
have  a  tendency  to  make  the  stroke  jerky  or 
to  sway  the  body,  but  the  proof  of  the  pudding 
is  in  the  eating,  and  no  one  could  criticise  this 
unorthodox  movement  of  the  knee  after  wit- 
nessing the  regularity  with  which  Mrs.  Bar- 
low gets  away  her  tee  shots  for  distances  quite 
the  equal  of  a  majority  of  the  leading  women 
golfers,  if  not  beyond  most  of  them. 

As  regards  putting,  many  close  followers 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play    251 

of  both  men's  and  women's  golf  are  firmly 
convinced  that  the  leading  women  golfers,  as 
a  class,  are  quite  the  equal  of  their  brothers 
and  that,  taken  right  through  all  classes,  the 
women  may  even  excel.  Possibly  there  is  a 
strictly  feminine  explanation  of  this  point. 
Woman  is  gifted  naturally  with  more  delicate 
fingers  than  man,  and  delicacy  of  touch  pre- 
sumably is  an  attribute  to  putting.  There  is 
no  reason  for  doubting  that  woman  has  as 
keen  an  eye  as  man.  The  third  element  in 
her  favor  is  that  she  is  more  apt,  than  man, 
to  stand  fairly  upright  in  her  putting,  if  for 
no  other  reason  than  to  stoop  far  over  and 
assume  some  of  the  putting  postures  found 
in  the  male  ranks  is  contrary  to  her  innate 
sense  against  appearing  awkward.  Many 
experts  have  written  that  the  golfer  who 
stands  fairly  straight  in  putting  gets  a  better 
line  on  the  hole  and  that  may  be  the  explana- 
tion of  women's  proficiency, 

Of  course  styles  differ  in  women's  putting, 
but  not  nearly  to  the  same  extent  as  in  the 
men's  ranks.  There  are  women  who  try  to 


252  Golf  for  Women 

put  with  merely  a  wrist  motion;  women  who 
put  with  the  arms  close  to  the  body  and  others 
with  arms  extended;  some  who  use  the  pen- 
dulum putting  stroke  and  many  who  put  with 
no  definite  idea  of  any  particular  method. 
Two  of  the  finest  putters  ever  known  in  the 
women's  ranks  this  side  of  the  water  putted 
with  the  croquet  stroke,  so  called,  with  both 
feet  pointed  toward  the  hole  and  the  club  out 
to  the  right  of  the  body.  These  two  were 
Mrs.  Bruce  D.  Smith  and  the  late  Mrs.  E. 
C.  Wheeler,  Jr.  It  is  a  style  which  looks  as 
if  it  might  be  effective  on  comparatively  short 
puts,  but  most  uncertain  on  long  ones,  yet 
Mrs.  Smith  and  Mrs.  Wheeler  won  a  large 
share  of  their  links  honors  through  their  pro- 
ficiency on  the  putting  greens.  As  an  ex- 
ponent of  the  more  natural  style,  Mrs.  H.  A. 
Jackson,  twice  the  national  champion,  is  one 
of  the  leading  examples.  She  stands  quite 
upright,  except  for  the  bend  at  the  head  and 
shoulders  which  puts  her  eyes  directly  over 
the  ball  and  on  a  line  with  the  hole.  Her 
putting  stroke  is  mostly  with  the  wrists  and 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play    253 

the  most  pleasing  thing  about  it  is  the  firm- 
ness with  which  she  hit  the  ball.  The  conse- 
quence is  that  the  ball  generally  is  up  to  the 
hole,  even  if  it  does  not  go  down,  but  on  puts 
up  to  eight  or  ten  feet  she  is  notably  accurate. 
Just  as  "cleanliness  is  next  to  godliness,"  so 
is  firmness  essential  to  successful  putting. 

Whether  courage  is  as  important  a  factor 
in  women's  golf  as  it  is  in  men's  is  one  of  the 
debatable  questions.  Both  men  and  women 
golfers  miss  ridiculously  easy  puts  at  impor- 
tant stages  of  their  matches,  yet  the  writer 
doubts  if  this  is  quite  as  true  of  the  women 
as  of  the  men.  Taking  the  two  sexes  by  and 
large,  they  go  at  competitive  golf  in  a  rather 
different  spirit.  The  man,  in  an  important 
match,  is  apt  to  be  wrapped  up  in  the  result 
of  that  match  to  the  exclusion  of  everything 
else  on  earth,  so  that  when  he  faces  the  short 
put  at  a  critical  stage  the  sole  thought  in  his 
mind  is  that  everything  depends  upon  the 
success  or  failure  of  that  put.  The  thing 
looms  so  large  that  he  perhaps  begins  to  fear 
that  even  so  short  a  put  is  missable.  Then 


254  Golf  for  Women 

it  is  entirely  a  question  of  whether  he  can  so 
control  himself  that  his  muscles  will  not 
tighten  and  involuntarily  apply  too  much 
pressure  from  one  hand  or  the  other  or,  in 
his  eagerness  to  see  the  ball  enter  the  cup, 
look  at  the  hole  instead  of  the  ball  and  stub 
the  put.  The  woman,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
not  quite  so  likely  to  look  upon  either  the  put 
or  the  outcome  of  the  match  as  so  momentous, 
hence  the  more  natural  play  of  the  muscles 
and  the  greater  percentage  of  chance  that  the 
ball  will  go  to  the  spot  intended. 

We  must  not  forget  the  example  as  set  by 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  of  all  America's  lady 
golfers,  Miss  Alexa  Stirling,  of  Atlanta, 
Georgia.  Still  in  her  teens,  possessed  of  no 
such  strength  as  has  aided  many  of  the  women 
golfers  of  past  prominence,  this  youthful 
golfer  acts  as  a  model  to  all  others  of  tender 
golfing  years.  The  Southern  champion  and 
national  semi-finalist  combines  the  graceful 
rhythm  which  we  would  attribute  to  a  fem- 
inine Harry  Vardon,  if  there  were  such  a 
personage,  and  the  snap  and  dash  and  lusty 


MISS  MARION  ROLLINS 
Halfway  down  in  approach  shot. 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play    255 

vigor  in  shot  making  which  come  only  to  those 
who  are  golfers  born  and  not  made. 

It  was  in  the  fall  of  1914  at  the  Woman's 
championship  held  at  the  Nassau  Country 
Club,  Glen  Cove,  L.  I.,  that  lovers  of  golfing 
style — there  are  many  such — noticed  a  mere 
slip  of  a  girl  swinging  a  golf  club  with  all 
that  freedom  and  joy  and  zest  which  comes  to 
those  whose  plastic  muscles  are  attuned  by 
nature  to  obey  satisfactorily  the  mind's  behest. 
The  critics  followed  round  with  the  young 
player,  delighted  with  her  swing  and  un- 
cramped  style  and  prophesying  conquered 
golfing  worlds  in  the  years  to  come.  Miss 
Stirling's  lithe  body,  her  auburn  locks  falling 
in  profusion  down  her  back  and  her  healthy 
attitude  towards  the  game  made  her  seem  the 
embodiment  of  the  real  golfing  spirit  of  the 
links.  Such  players  are  rare. 

How,  one  may  ask,  does  Miss  Stirling  get 
her  results?  Is  it  all  innate  ability  or  does 
her  style  command  respect  from  the  par  of 
the  links?  Perhaps  if  we  say  that  there  is 
an  even  distribution  we  shall  not  be  far 


256  Golf  for  Women 

wrong.  Miss  Stirling,  as  do  most  women, 
holds  to  the  orthodox  or  V-shaped  grip,  she 
has  wooden  clubs  which  weigh  12%  ounces,  a 
splendid  weight  for  most  lady  players,  and 
she  stands  much  after  the  fashion  of  the  best 
male  golfers  with  the  right  foot  advanced 
slightly.  It  would  seem  natural  to  one  filled 
with  the  exuberance  of  youth  to  take  the  club- 
head  back  quickly.  Miss  Stirling  owes  much 
of  her  success  in  driving,  iron  play  and  put- 
ting to  her  "slowback"  method  of  stroke 
making,  a  feature  of  every  champion's  play, 
and  an  absolute  essential  for  the  prevention 
of  that  fatal  mistake  "overswinging."  In 
the  shots  from  the  tee  Miss  Stirling  averages 
175  yards;  in  her  drives,  like  Ray  and  Braid, 
she  drives  for  carry  plus  a  run.  Her  back 
swing  is  a  full  three-quarters  at  the  least,  but 
her  power  is  gained  by  the  absolute  timing 
control  and  by  the  shoulder  and  back  force 
communicated  to  the  clubhead,  plus  a  full 
carry  through  which  has  always  seemed  the 
property  of  a  blithesome  college  golfer. 
It  is,  however,  in  the  making  of  the  iron 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play    257 

shots  that  Miss  Stirling  outclasses  her  Amer- 
ican rivals.  As  we  have  noted  women  golfers 
have  not  extra-strong  fingers  and  too  many 
of  them  believe  that  they  cannot  force  the 
clubhead  to  strike  the  ball  and  turf  and  still 
get  distance.  The  majority  try  to  take  the 
ball  as  cleanly  snipped  from  the  grass  carpet 
as  is  possible;  and  when  the  lie  is  favorable 
the  results  may  be  just  as  good.  But  when 
the  golf  ball  is  in  a  cuppy  lie,  or  the  push 
shot  against  the  wind  must  be  played  it  is 
the  player  with  the  knowledge  how  and  the 
ability  to  take  turf  crisply  who  wins.  This 
Miss  Stirling  can  do  and  do  well.  Her  back 
swing  is  slow,  her  left  knee  is  bent  slightly, 
the  left  arm  is  only  slightly  flexed  at  the 
elbow,  the  right  elbow  is  extended  and  the 
hands  are  held  fairly  high.  When  the  ball 
is  hit  the  back  muscles  get  into  action  and  the 
follow  through  is  clean  cut  with  a  sane  pres- 
ervation of  the  circularity  of  the  stroke.  The 
whole  swing  comes  under  the  upright  cate- 
gory. Although  there  is  an  abundance  of 
healthy  action  the  stroke  is  at  all  times  under 


258  Golf  for  Women 

control.  There  is  no  better  stylist  for  fem- 
inine youth  to  copy  than  Miss  Stirling, 
who  some  day  will  be  the  champion  of  the 
land. 

Long  driving,  when  straight  down  the 
course,  as  a  rule  lays  the  foundation  for  won- 
derful golfing  possibilities.  To  force  one's 
rival  to  play  the  odd,  from  a  distance  back  of 
forty  or  fifty  yards,  hole  after  hole,  usually 
brings  discouragement  and  ultimate  defeat. 
It  seems  strange,  therefore,  when  we  speak  of 
Mrs.  Quentin  Feitner  (Miss  Lillian  Hyde) 
as  averaging  over  two  hundred  yards  on  her 
drives,  not  to  announce  her  as  the  former  or 
present  champion  of  the  land.  But,  although 
many  sectional  titles  have  come  her  way,  her 
habit  of  taking  an  extra  put  at  inopportune 
times  has  kept  her  in  the  list  of  keen  con- 
tenders. Mrs.  Feitner  hits  the  longest  tee 
shot  of  any  woman  in  America  and  perhaps  is 
surpassed  by  no  lady  golfer  in  the  world.  She 
has  played  eighteen  holes  in  75  and  has  aver- 
aged on  all  but  the  short  holes  two  hundred 
and  twenty-five  yards,  while  some  of  her 


MISS  GLADYS  RAVENSCROFT 
A  firm,  straight  brassie  shot. 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play    259 

drives  have  measured  well  over  two  hundred 
and  fifty.  Now  this  inordinate  length  is 
yards  more  than  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  coun- 
try's golfers,  men  and  women,  average.  It 
is  interesting  to  note  how  such  splendid  re- 
sults are  obtained. 

One  of  the  necessities  to  gain  extra  yardage 
is  extra  strength,  and  this  Mrs.  Feitner  has 
in  abundance.  Her  shoulders  are  broad,  her 
arm  muscles  pliant,  supple  and  strong,  while 
her  wrists  are  eminently  powerful.  Yet 
these  attributes  would  be  as  nought  if  it  were 
not  for  the  perfect  cohesion  of  parts,  the 
rhythmic  timing  and  that  delicious  snappy 
"hit"  which  assures  a  drive  of  lengthy  pro- 
portions. With  that  essential  adherence  to 
golfing  success  Mrs.  Feitner  takes  the  club- 
head  back  with  deliberation,  but  as  the  club- 
head  nears  the  horizontal  there  is  detected  a 
gathering  of  the  forces  which  make  for  a  true 
"hit"  at  the  ball  and  with  that  blow  there  goes 
a  body  follow  through  which  must  add  to  the 
distance  many  yards.  Lady  golfers,  as  a 
rule,  are  content  to  let  the  arm  and  a  quarter 


260  Golf  for  Women 

body  swing  account  for  driving  success;  to 
the  player  who  will  pivot  more,  as  does  Mrs. 
Feitner,  will  come  added  yardage.  This  is 
seen  in  the  roll  of  the  rubber  core  after  it 
lights.  In  her  iron  shots  Mrs.  Feitner  does 
not  hesitate  to  take  turf  and  she  often  gets 
200  yards  from  an  unfavorable  lie.  Here  is 
where  her  wrist  and  forearm  strength  mean  so 
much.  And,  as  happens  so  many  times,  there 
are  deficiencies  in  her  game  to  make  up  for 
the  excellences.  The  pretty  touch  when  chip 
shots  are  needed  is  absent,  and  so,  also,  is  a 
sure  putting  stroke.  Mrs.  Feitner  has  the 
unhappy  fault  of  turning  over  the  right  wrist 
just  at  the  moment  of  impact  when  putting 
the  ball  and  this  fault  has  cost  her  dearly  in 
many  a  contest.  It  has  always  been  remarked 
that  when  she  has  won  her  big  events  she  has 
been  putting  well  and  has  not  been  over- 
long  on  her  drives,  which  is  still  one  more  of 
the  many  proofs  which  we  have  that  a  player 
rarely  receives  from  the  goddess  of  golfing 
fortune  at  one  time  or  in  any  one  round  all 
the  attributes  of  muscle  freedom  and  delicate 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play    261 

touch  which  are  essential  for  the  playing  of 
a  near  perfect  round.  Still,  the  1916  Metro- 
politan champion  has  a  great  advantage  over 
thousands  of  her  sex  golfers  in  that  one  may 
by  assiduous  practice  become  a  good  player 
at  the  approach  and  the  put  while  all  the  prac- 
tice in  the  world  may  not  suffice  to  add  ten 
yards  to  the  drive.  That  is  why  there  is  so 
much  praise  and  credit  given  to  those  ladies 
who  are  the  longest  hitters  in  the  world. 

If  we  were  to  take  a  hasty  composite  pic- 
ture of  the  best  lady  golfers  in  the  land  it  is 
quite  likely  that  we  would  select  the  drive  of 
Mrs.  Feitner,  the  brassie  shot  which  Mrs. 
Clarence  Vanderbeck  can  get,  the  iron  shots 
up  to  the  chip  shot,  of  Miss  Stirling,  the  chip 
shots  of  Mrs.  Dorothy  Campbell  Hurd  and 
Mrs.  H.  A.  Jackson  and  the  putting  stroke 
of  Miss  Rosenthal.  And  if  we  wished  to  see 
a  player  who  gained  the  results  which  the  best 
strokes  of  these  mentioned  golfers  attained 
our  journey  would  bring  us  to  Great  Britain 
and  to  the  home  course  of  Miss  Cecilia  Leitch, 
the  winner  of  the  last  ladies'  championship  of 


262  Golf  for  Women 

the  British  Isles.  Miss  Leitch  drives  about 
as  far  as  Mrs.  Feitner,  her  iron  shots  are  a 
bit  better  than  those  of  Miss  Stirling,  her 
chip  shots  are  wonderful  and  her  putting  is 
well  above  the  average.  Possessed  of  a  per- 
fect constitution  and  great  strength,  the 
"Amazon"  golfer,  as  she  has  been  termed, 
bangs  away  with  all  the  freedom  imaginable. 
Her  stance  is  open  and  a  bit  exaggerated, 
her  full  swing  brings  the  clubhead  to  the  hori- 
zontal, while  her  finish  brings  the  clubhead 
down  almost  to  the  level  of  her  waist.  Miss 
Leitch  uses  a  modified  flat  swing  wherein  the 
club  is  swung  more  around  the  shoulder  which 
gives  her  a  long  run  to  the  ball;  she  is  a  bit 
different  in  her  manner  of  swinging,  it  might 
be  noted,  for  nine-tenths  of  women  golfers 
use  the  upright  style  of  driving.  In  her  iron 
play  Miss  Leitch  finishes  as  does  James  H. 
Taylor,  five  times  champion  of  the  British 
Isles,  and  when  that  is  said  we  know  why  she 
excels  through  the  green.  Perhaps  no  other 
lady  golfer  in  the  world  other  than  Miss 
Leitch  can  play  a  push  shot  brassie  into  the 


Women  Golfers  and  Their  Play    263 

wind  and  this  ability  alone  is  worth  more  than 
one  hole  a  round  on  British  courses  where  the 
wind  is  so  often  strong.  When  the  war  is 
over  the  champion  will  visit  the  States  and 
show  to  the  golfers  in  this  land  how  she  accom- 
plishes her  rounds  of  seventy-four  and 
seventy-five  over  good  links.  But,  meanwhile 
there  are  more  and  more  golfers  of  the  female 
persuasion  taking  to  the  game.  All  the  golf 
widows  are  not  women. 


THE  END 


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